Margaret Tudor was the much loved and pampered daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Married to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, her life as a queen-consort was honourable and happy. Her marriage was arranged to bring peace between England and Scotland but diplomacy failed and James IV was killed, along with the cream of the Scottish nobility, at the battle of Flodden in 1513. As a widow of twenty-three, Margaret struggled to maintain her position in a violent and divided nation. Acting as regent for her son, James V, Margaret became the first Tudor woman to rule a kingdom and despite the crippling blow of Flodden, it is Margaret's descendants, not her brother, Henry VIII's, who carried on the royal bloodlines of both Scotland and England.The material was first published on www.tudortimes.co.uk