The Lost Tudor Princess

Lady Margaret Douglas is a personage who often seems to go missing from the pages of English history.

Daughter of Margaret Tudor, grand daughter of Henry VII, and niece of Henry VIII, Margaret Douglas grew up close to the central events of Tudor England.  Interestingly, however, her name rarely crops up in either history books or historical novels, despite the fact she spent a lot of time in the Tower, under house arrest, or just generally in the bad books of one or another monarch.  Except her cousin Mary I.  She and Mary were best friends.  How the heck do historical novelists miss this?  About the only time she seems to get a mention is briefly as the mother of Henry, Lord Darnley, the ill fated husband of Mary, Queen of Scotland.

In “The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Lady Margaret Douglas”, Alison Weir makes a credible effort to bring Lady Margaret forward into our historical consciousness.

A little too much time is spent on proving how important Margaret was to her family by listing gifts she was given.  However, the quoted correspondence gives an interesting look at this woman who was a strong and determined as her cousins Mary and Elizabeth.

A must read for anyone with a genuine interest in the Tudor and Elizabethan periods.

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