The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Lady Margaret Douglas by Alison Weir
A portrait by George Gower, published in 1911 as “Lady Katherine Grey” in Davey’s The Sisters of Lady Jane Grey, was then in the possession of Mary Wright Biddulph. Nowadays it appears on the Internet, apparently on no authority, as Margaret Douglas. The sitter, who wears rich costume of the 1560s–70s, is probably Isabel Gifford, wife of Sir Francis Biddulph, in whose family the portrait remained until 1931. The portrait was sold by the Weiss Gallery to a private collector in 2001.30
An engraving said to be of Margaret31 based on a miniature in the collection of David Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home, depicts a lady in mid-seventeenth-century dress, who cannot be Margaret. On page 511 of his book Tudor Costume and Fashion (1938), Herbert Norris reproduced a drawing based on “a three-quarter portrait of Margaret Douglas,” but the portrait is in fact that of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley, which hangs in Hardwick Hall.
To conclude, there is still only one certain portrait of Margaret, that in the Darnley Memorial.
APPENDIX II
Miscellaneous Poems Copied by Margaret Douglas into the Devonshire Manuscript
The poems below1 cannot be related to any known events in Margaret’s life. They are copied in her hand, and may not necessarily have been composed by her.
No. 59
[To a faithless lover. Margaret is not known to have been jilted by any suitor.]
Thy promise was to love me best
And that thy heart with mine should rest,
And not to break this thy behest.
Thy promise was, thy promise was.
Thy promise was not to acquit
My faithfulness with such despite,
But recompense it if thou might.
Thy promise was, thy promise was.
Thy promise was, I tell thee plain,
My faith should not be spent in vain,
But to have more should be my gain.
Thy promise was, thy promise was.
Thy promise was to have observed
My faith like as it hath deserved,
And not causeless thus to a-swerved.
Thy promise was, thy promise was.
Thy promise was, I dare avow,
But it is changed, I wot well how.
Though then were then and now is now,
Thy promise was, thy promise was.
But since to change thou dost delight,
And that thy faith have ta’en his flight,
As thou deservest I shall thee quit,
I promise thee, I promise thee.
No. 60
[To a lover who has grown cold and loves another.]
I see the change from that that was,
And how thy faith hath ta’en his flight,
But I with patience let it pass
And with my pen this do I write
To show thee plain by proof of sight
I see the change.
I see the change of wearied mind
And slipper hold, hath quit my hire.
Lo! How by proof in thee I find
A burning faith in changing fire.
Farewell my part, proof is no liar:
I see the change.
I see the change of chance in love;
Delight no longer may abide.
What should I seek further to prove?
No, no, my trust, for I have tried
The following of a false guide.
I see the change.
I see the change, as in this case,
Has made me free from mine avow,
For now another has my place
And, ere I wist, I wot ne’er how.
It happened thus as ye hear now.
I see the change.
I see the change, such is my chance
To serve in doubt and hope in vain,
But since my surety so doth glance,
Repentance now shall quit thy pain,
Never to trust the like again.
I see the change.
Finis.
No. 63
[The poem is in a man’s voice.]
To my mishap, alas, I find
That happy hap is dangerous,
And fortune works but her kind
To make the joyful dolorous.
But all too late it comes in mind
To wail the want which made me blind,
So often warned.
Amidst my mirth and pleasantness
Such chance is chanced suddenly,
That in despair to have redress
I find my chiefest remedy.
No new kind of unhappiness
Should thus have left me comfortless,
So often warned.
Who could have thought that my request
Should have brought forth such bitter fruit?
But now is happed that I feared least
And all this grief comes by my suit;
For where I thought me happiest
Even there I found my chiefest unrest,
So often warned.
In better case was never none,
And yet unawares thus I am trapped.
My chief desire doth cause me moan,
And to my pain my wealth is happed.
Was never man but I alone,
That had such hap to wail and groan,
So often warned?
Thus am I taught for to beware
And not to trust such pleasant chance.
My happy hap has bred this care
And turned my mirth to great mischance.
There is no man that hap will spare,
But when she list our wealth is bare.
Thus am I warned.
No. 64
[A faithless poet overhears her lover’s lament.]
“How should I
Be so pleasant
In my semblant
As my fellows be?”
Not long ago
It chanced so
As I walked alone
I heard a man
That now and then
Himself did thus bemoan:
“Alas!” he said,
“I am betrayed
And utterly undone.
Whom I did trust
And think so just,
Another man has won.
“My service due
And heart so true
On her I did bestow.
I never meant
For to repent
In wealth nor yet in woe.
“Love did assign
Her to be mine
And not to love none new,
But who can bind
Their fickle kind
That never will be true?
“The western wind
Has turned her mind
And blown her clean away,
Whereby my wealth,
My mirth, my health,
Is turned to great decay.
“Where is the truth?
Where is the oath
That ye to me did give?
Such crafty words
And wily boards [assaults]
Let no man believe.
“How should I
Be so pleasant
In my semblant
As my fellows be?”
No. 65
[The poet laments that his/her love now belongs to someone else.]
What needeth life when I require
Nothing but death to quench my pain?
Fast flyeth away that I desire
And double sorrows return again.
By proof I see before mine eyen
Another hath that once was mine.
That I was wont to have in hold
Is slipped away full suddenly,
And craftily I am withhold
From all my life and liberty,
So that I see before mine eyen
Another hath that once was mine.
It is no news to find, I know,
For faithfulness to find untruth,
But I perceive the wind doth blow
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By which I see before mine eyen
Another hath that once was mine.
A proverb old I have heard oft,
That a light love lightly doth go.
Now am I low that was aloft,
That was my friend is now my foe.
So that I see before mine eyen
Another hath that once was mine.
Since right with wrong hath his reward,
And feigned faith doth true oppress,
I let it pass, and it regard
As I have cause, no more or less,
Because I see before mine eyen
Another has that once was mine.
What heart could think more than was thought,
Or tongue could speak more that was spoke?
Yet what for that? All was for naught,
For he is gone and slipped the knot,
Whereby I see before mine eyen
Another has that once was mine.
Chief Dramatis Personae
Margaret Douglas and Her Close Relations
Margaret Douglas (1515–78): daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, by Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII, King of England, by Elizabeth of York.
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (ca.1489–1557): son of George Douglas, Master of Angus, by Elizabeth Drummond. Father of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Margaret Hepburn (d.1513); precontracted to Jane Stewart of Traquair; married (2) Margaret Tudor (1489–1541) and (3) Margaret Maxwell (d.1594).
Margaret Tudor (1489–1541): daughter of Henry VII, King of England, by Elizabeth of York. Mother of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) James IV, King of Scots (1473–1513); (2) Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (ca.1489–1557); and (3) Henry (Harry) Stewart, Lord Methven (ca.1495–1552).
Lord Thomas Howard (ca.1511–37): son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, by Agnes Tilney. Precontracted to Margaret Douglas.
Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox (1516–71): son of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox. Husband of Margaret Douglas. The spelling of his surname was changed when he lived in France. Regent of Scotland 1570–71.
Children of Margaret Douglas and Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (b. & d.1545).
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546–67): married Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–87). Parents of James VI and I, King of Scots and King of England (1566–1625). Murdered.
Unnamed daughter (b.1552; d. by 1565).
Philip Stuart (b.1554/5; d. by 1562).
Three unnamed daughters (d. young by 1562–65).
Charles Stuart, 6th Earl of Lennox (1557–76): married Elizabeth Cavendish (1555–82). Parents of Arbella Stuart (1575–1615). Died of tuberculosis.
Scottish Kings and Queens: House of Stewart/Stuart
James IV (1473–1513): married Margaret Tudor (1489–1541), daughter of Henry VII, King of England, by Elizabeth of York, and sister of Henry VIII, King of England. She married second Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and by him was the mother of Margaret Douglas.
James V (1512–42): son of James IV and Margaret Tudor. Half brother of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Madeleine of France (1520–37) and (2) Marie de Guise (1515–60), who was Regent of Scotland from 1554 to 1559 for their daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–87): daughter of James V by Marie de Guise. Niece and daughter-in-law of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Francis II, King of France (1544–60); (2) Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546–67), son of Margaret Douglas; and (3) James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell (ca.1535–78). Deposed 1567.
James VI (1566–1625): son of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Grandson of Margaret Douglas. Became James I of England at the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Scottish Royal Family
Alexander, Duke of Ross (1514–15): youngest son of James IV and Margaret Tudor. Half brother of Margaret Douglas.
James Stewart, Earl of Moray (ca.1531–70): bastard son of James V by Margaret Erskine; half brother of Mary, Queen of Scots; nephew of Margaret Douglas. Married Agnes Keith (ca.1540–88). Protestant reformer and Regent of Scotland 1567–70. Murdered.
English Kings and Queens
House of York (Plantagenet) 1461–85
Edward IV, King of England (1442–83): married Elizabeth Wydeville (1437–92). Great-grandparents of Margaret Douglas.
Richard III, King of England (1452–85): killed at the Battle of Bosworth.
House of Tudor 1485–1603
Henry VII (1457–1509): married Elizabeth of York (1466–1503). Grandparents of Margaret Douglas.
Henry VIII (1491–1547): son of Henry VII by Elizabeth of York. Uncle of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Katherine of Aragon (1485–1536); (2) Anne Boleyn (ca.1501–36); (3) Jane Seymour (ca.1508–37); (4) Anne of Cleves (1515–57); (5) Katherine Howard (ca.1519–42); and (6) Katherine Parr (1512–48).
Edward VI (1537–53): son of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour. First cousin of Margaret Douglas.
Mary I (1516–58): daughter of Henry VIII by Katherine of Aragon. First cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married Philip II, King of Spain (1527–98).
Elizabeth I (1533–1603): daughter of Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn. First cousin of Margaret Douglas.
English royal family
Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509): descended from King Edward III through John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond (1430–56), by whom she was the mother of Henry VII, King of England (1457–1509). Great-grandmother of Margaret Douglas.
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (1486–1501): son of Henry VII by Elizabeth of York. Uncle of Margaret Douglas. Married Katherine of Aragon (1485–1536).
Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset (1519–36): bastard son of Henry VIII by Elizabeth Blount (ca.1489–1540). First cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married Mary Howard (1519–57).
Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle (d.1542): bastard son of Edward IV. Constable of Calais. Married Honor Grenville (ca.1493–1566).
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1473–1541): daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III. Married Sir Richard Pole (d.1505). Governess to the future Mary I and probably to Margaret Douglas also.
Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury (1500–58): son of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury.
Arthur Pole (1531–70) and Edmund Pole (1541–70): grandsons of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. Pretenders to the throne.
Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon (ca.1535–95): son of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, by Katherine Pole, granddaughter of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, through whom Hastings derived his claim to the throne. President of the Council of the North.
English royal family: House of Suffolk
Mary Tudor (1496–1533): daughter of Henry VII, King of England, by Elizabeth of York. Aunt of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Louis XII, King of France (1462–1515) and (2) Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (ca.1484–1545).
Frances Brandon (1517–59): elder daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary Tudor. First cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset, later Duke of Suffolk (1517–54) and (2) Adrian Stokes (1519–86).
Eleanor Brandon (1519–47): younger daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary Tudor. First cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland (1517–70).
Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln (ca. 1523–34): son of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary Tudor. First cousin of Margaret Douglas.
Jane Grey (1536–54): eldest daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, by Frances Brandon. Second cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married Lord Guildford Dudley (ca.1535–54). Reigned as “Queen Jane” for nine days in 1554.
Katherine Grey (1540–68): second daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, by Frances Brandon. Second cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married (1) Henry
Mary Grey (1545–78): third daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, by Frances Brandon. Second cousin of Margaret Douglas. Married Thomas Keyes (ca.1524–71).
Mary Brandon (1510–44?): daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by his second wife, Anne Browne. Married Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Monteagle (1507–60).
Katherine Willoughby (1519–80): daughter of William, 11th Baron Willoughby d’Eresby, by Maria de Salinas. Second wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (ca.1484–1545). Married (2) Richard Bertie (ca.1517–82), by whom she was the mother of Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby d’Eresby (1555–1601) and others. Friend of Margaret Douglas.
French Kings and Queens: House of Valois
Louis XII, King of France (1462–1515): married (3) Mary Tudor (1496–1533), sister of Henry VIII, King of England.
Francis I, King of France (1494–1547): cousin and son-in-law of Louis XII, whom he succeeded.
Henry II, King of France (1519–59): son of Francis I. Married Catherine de’ Medici (1519–89).
Francis II, King of France (1544–60): eldest son of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici. Married Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–87).
Charles IX, King of France (1550–74), previously Duke of Orléans: third son of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici.
Henry III, King of France (1551–89), previously Duke of Anjou: fourth son of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici.
French Ambassadors
Claude d’Annebault, Admiral of France (1495–1552), ambassador to Henry VIII.