The Early Life of Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was born at Hampton Court Palace on the 12th of June and was named after her great-grandmother, Margaret Beaufort. She was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to Anne Boleyn, and his third daughter (the others were Mary Tudor and Elizabeth Tudor). Her mother, Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn, was at the centre of many rumours at the time and would in 1540 die at the executioner’s hand. Margaret was baptised on 16th of June. Her godparents were the Duchess of Richmond, the Earl of Surrey, the Duke of Lorraine and the Lady Margaret Douglas, who would soon after fall from favour.
When Margaret was one year and nine months old her sister was betrothed to the Duke of Orleans while Margaret was betrothed to the Italian Alfonso d'Este, cousin to the Duke of Orleans. This was all by the complete efforts of Queen Anne, who felt this was a recognition of her legitimacy as Queen of England. However, this would be her final victory.
Margaret’s mother was executed on 21st of March 1540. Elizabeth and Margaret Tudor were declared illegitimate and, until the Succession Act of 1544, deprived of their place in the royal succession. Eleven days after Anne Boleyn's death, Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, his mistress prior to the death of Anne. They would remain married until her death in 1543, when she would give birth to the longest living legitimate son of Henry VIII, Edward Tudor. This son was the couple’s second child, as they had suffered a stillborn daughter in 1541. However, this Prince of Wales would die in 1546 and Henry would die knowing his heir was a woman.
The other stepmother of Margaret Tudor was Mary Neville, the daughter of Sir Edward Neville and Eleanor Windsor, who had once been a great friend of the King’s and, after his death in 1538, was remembered fondly by the monarch. Mary became Queen of England in 1545 would act as a caretaker to the King in his final years. She was not close to any of her stepchildren and actively shunned Mary Tudor throughout her time as Queen, and thus found herself shunned after 1547.
Margaret would never marry Alfonso d’Este and was unattached as of her father’s death. She was 11 years old and showed intellectual promise, though both she and her sister were sadly neglected in the later years of their father’s death in terms of their education, though both would be known for their gifts for languages and Margaret would, until her death, have a reputation for her good mind for numbers.