![]() ![]() Margaret was now on a mission to secure her son’s future, so her influence in court and her ability to win the favours of those in power at the time was crucial. This was to be nothing more than a marriage of convenience as it helped to secure her position in the court of Edward IV and his wife Elizabeth Woodville. ![]() Now a widow for the second time, Margaret embarked on her next marriage to Thomas Stanley, a nobleman and politician. This he did, an act which led to her not seeing her son for another fourteen years. Margaret whose husband, Lord Stafford died at the battle, realised the severity of the situation and thus implored Jasper Tudor to taker her son Henry abroad to safety. Nevertheless, such power grabs were short-lived and the Battle of Barnet resulted in a Yorkist victory forcing Margaret to consider her options. In 1470 there was a brief resurgence of the Lancastrian king Henry VI after the efforts of the Earl of Warwick to launch a rebellion. Still able to visit her son, Margaret would however witness her son’s lands handed over to the Duke of Clarence, the new king’s brother. Meanwhile, her son Henry was taken into the ward of Sir William Herbert whilst Jasper Tudor fled to Scotland in a bid to rally support. The Lancastrian losses were felt keenly by Margaret who had lost her father-in-law. Whilst family arrangements were taken care of, the family had larger problems to contend with, as years of fighting in the War of the Roses led to a disastrous loss for Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton in 1461, allowing for a York victory and a Yorkist king, Edward IV. Meanwhile, the care of her child Henry Tudor fell to his uncle Jasper Tudor, who granted Margaret and her husband the opportunity to visit him at Pembroke Castle. Now fourteen, Margaret married her second cousin, Sir Henry Stafford and went to live at Woking Palace. Not long after her recovery from the traumatic pregnancy and birth, Jasper made sure to arrange a marriage which would secure Henry Tudor’s future. As she was so young, her birth had been extremely painful and difficult and she would not have any further children. Now in the care of her brother-in-law, Jasper Tudor, Margaret gave birth to a baby boy called Henry Tudor at Pembroke Castle. Just a girl, Edmund was twelve years older and immediately found himself embroiled in the War of the Roses.Ī Lancastrian, Edmund would not live to see his child with Margaret as he was subsequently captured by the Yorkists and died of the plague in captivity in Carmarthen whilst Margaret, now thirteen, was seven months pregnant. Thus, at the age of twelve Margaret was married to Edmund Tudor in November 1455. It was decided that Edmund would marry Margaret as a way to strengthen Edmund’s possible claims to the throne, if Henry VI were not able to produce an heir. Three years on, the marriage was to be dissolved and Margaret’s wardship was passed on to Henry VI’s half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper. Keen to secure his own family’s future, de la Pole arranged for his son John to marry Margaret, an arrangement that occurred when she was just a young child. When she was only one year old, the king gave her wardship to William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk. She was left a substantial legacy including her ability to contest the throne. ![]() It is thought that he committed suicide not long afterwards leaving Margaret as his sole heiress. Whilst in France, Margaret’s father made a blunder which he paid for on his return to England as he was banished from the royal court. Herself a descendant of King Edward III, she made sure to secure the royal crown for her own son, Henry VII.īorn on 31st May 1443 in Blestoe Castle, to John Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset and his wife Margaret Beauchamp, an heiress in her own right, young Margaret was the descendant through her father of John of Gaunt and thus a descendant of King Edward III.Īt the time of her birth, John Beaufort was in the middle of military preparations on behalf of King Henry VI. Often referred to as the matriarch of the Tudors, Margaret Beaufort was a powerful member of the royal household and an influential figure in the greater political machinations of the day. ![]()
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