Margaret was born in Denmark to
King Christian I and
Queen Dorothea of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Not much is known about her upbringing. By the time she was four years old there were talks about her marriage to the Scottish Prince James. In 1468 Margaret was
betrothed to James of Scotland as a means to stop a feud regarding the debt Scotland owed Denmark over the taxation of the
Hebrides and
Isle of Man. The marriage was arranged on the recommendation of
King Charles VII of France. In July 1469, at the age of 13 she married
James III at
Holyrood Abbey. Upon their marriage all of the Scottish debt was cancelled.
William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, was at that time the
Norse Earl of Orkney. In 1472 he was made to exchange his Orkney
fief for
Ravenscraig Castle, so the Scottish throne took the earl's rights to the islands too. Queen Margaret was given the largest
jointure allowed by Scottish law in her marriage settlement – one third of the royal revenues, together with
Linlithgow Palace and
Doune Castle. She was interested in clothes and jewellery, and known for always being dressed in the latest fashions of the time. Following the birth of her son James, in 1473 she went on a pilgrimage to
Whithorn and then rejoined the king at
Falkland Palace. She may have taught her son James to speak Danish. She became a popular queen in Scotland and was described as beautiful, gentle, and sensible. The relationship between Margaret and James III was not described as a happy one. Reportedly, she was not very fond of her husband and had sexual intercourse with him only for procreation, though she did respect his position as a monarch. One reason for their estrangement was that James favoured their second son over their eldest. In 1476, James had decided that he wanted the Earldom of Ross for his second son and accused
John MacDonald, the Earl, of treason. MacDonald was then put on trial before the Parliament, but upon Margaret's request he was allowed to remain as Lord of Parliament. During the crisis of 1482, when James III was deprived of power by his brother for several months, Margaret was said to have shown more interest in the welfare of her children than her spouse, which led to a permanent estrangement. Politically, she worked for the reinstatement of her spouse in his powers as monarch during this incident. After the crisis of 1482, the couple lived apart: James III lived in Edinburgh, while queen Margaret preferred to live in Stirling with her children. == Death ==