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Margaret, Maid of Norway (9 April 1283 – 26 September 1290) was a Norwegian princess who reigned as Queen of Scots from 1286 until her death. Her death while travelling to Scotland sparked off the disputed succession which led to the Wars of Scottish Independence.
She was the daughter of King Eric II of Norway and Margaret, daughter of King Alexander III of Scotland, the last King of the House of Dunkeld. The wife of Alexander III had borne him two sons and a daughter; but by 1286 his sons were dead and his daughter, Margaret, had borne only a single daughter, also named Margaret, to her husband Eric II of Norway before herself dying. Alexander had himself remarried, but in early 1286 he died in an accident while riding home. His wife, Yolande of Dreux, was pregnant; but by November 1286 all hope of her bearing a living child had passed. Accordingly, in the Treaty of Salisbury, the Guardians of Scotland recognised Alexander's three-year-old granddaughter, Margaret of Norway, as Queen of Scots. Margaret remained in her father's Kingdom of Norway until Autumn 1290, when she was dispatched to Scotland. However, she died on the journey in Orkney, having never set foot on Scottish soil, and without being crowned at Scone. She is thus sometimes not considered Queen by nationalists. |
