What happened to Margaret Tudor’s remains?

James I of Scotland, Wikimedia Commons

On 21 February 2017, a proposal to search for the tomb of King James I of Scotland, has been unveiled. Archaeologists also looking for the remains of his Queen, Joan Beaufort, and of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England and wife of James IV of Scotland.

James I was assassinated on 21 February 1437 and buried at the Charterhouse monastery in Perth. His wife and queen, Joan Beaufort, was buried with him 1445. In 1541, Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England and wife of James IV of Scotland, was buried in the same vault.

Margaret Tudor

In Tudor: A Family Story, historian Leanda de Lisle says: “The remains of Margaret Tudor disappeared after her tomb was destroyed by a Protestant mob in May 1559. They had attacked the Carthusian priory in Perth where she was buried, killing one of the monks before desecrating her remains.” In her biography of Margaret Tudor’s daughter, historian Alison Weir adds that Margaret’s remains were “burned and the ashes scattered when the Charterhouse at Perth was attacked and destroyed by a mob of Calvinist reformers on 11 May 1559”.


Let’s hope that the archaeologists will find whatever’s left of her remains.

Sources: 

Search for Perth grave of King James I

Alison Weir, The Lost Tudor Princess: A Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (Jonathan Capre, 2015).

Leanda de Lisle, Tudor: The Family Story, (Vintage Digital, 2013).