List of Scottish royal consorts

(Redirected from List of Scottish consorts)

The consorts of the monarchs of Scotland, such as queens consort, princesses consort, and kings consort, bore titles derived from their marriage. The Kingdom of Scotland was first unified as a state by Kenneth I of Scotland in 843, and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom after the Act of Union 1707 when it was merged with the Kingdom of England to become the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The early history of Scotland is confused and often obscure, due largely to information given by the sources of the time and after, which are often contradictory, vague, and lacking in detail. Details of the kings prior to Malcolm III are sparse, and the status of two – Giric and Eochaid – dubious; details of their wives are almost non-existent. Thus, it is practically impossible to construct a list of consorts of Scotland prior to the accession of Macbeth, whose wife Gruoch is well-documented.

House of Moray

Although a few details of earlier queens consort are known – for example, Duncan I was married to a woman named in one source as Suthen – the first queen about whom much is known is Gruoch, a daughter of Boite mac Cináeda, himself a son of either Kenneth II or Kenneth III. She was the wife of Macbeth and her son was Lulach. The mother of Máel Snechtai, Lulach's son, was still alive in 1078, when she was seized by Malcolm Canmore, but nothing else is known of her, not even if she and Lulach were married.

PictureNameFather (House)BirthMarriageBecame consortCoronationCeased to be consortDeathSpouse
Gruoch of ScotlandBoite mac Cináeda
(MacAlpin)
c. 1015after 1032c. 14 August 104015 August 1057c. 1060Macbeth

House of Dunkeld (1058–1286)

In 1058, Malcolm Long-neck of the House of Dunkeld overthrew his cousin, Lulach, and reclaimed the Scottish throne for himself. His family, the House of Dunkeld, would rule until the death of Alexander III in 1286, with whom the House ended. Alexander's heir was his infant granddaughter, Margaret, "the Maid of Norway", of the House of Fairhair; but she died, still unmarried and childless, in late 1290 before reaching Scotland, and was never crowned at Scone. After two years of Interregnum, the controversial John de Balliol was chosen as king (his wife was already dead, and never became queen consort); but after four years of reign, he abdicated, and Scotland entered another Interregnum until 1306.

PictureNameFather (House)BirthMarriageBecame ConsortCoronationCeased to be ConsortDeathSpouse
Ingibiorg FinnsdottirFinn Arnesson??1058?1058/69?Malcolm III
Margaret of WessexEdward the Exile
(Wessex)
c. 1045107013 November 109316 November 1093
Ethelreda of NorthumbriaGospatric, Earl of Northumbria?1093/941094?Duncan II
Sybilla of NormandyHenry I of England
(Normandy)
1092110712/13 July 1122Alexander I
Maud of NorthumbriaWaltheof II, Earl of Northumbria10741113April/May 11241130David I
Ermengarde de BeaumontRichard I, Viscount de Beaumont
(House of Beaumont)
c. 11705 September 11864 December 121412 February 1233/34William I
Joan of EnglandJohn of England
(Plantagenet)
22 July 121021 June 12214 March 1238Alexander II
Marie de CoucyEnguerrand III, Lord of Coucy
(Coucy)
c. 121815 May 12396 July 12491285
Margaret of EnglandHenry III of England
(Plantagenet)
29 September 124026 December 125126 February 1275Alexander III
Yolande de DreuxRobert IV, Count of Dreux
(Dreux)
c. 126515 October 128519 March 12862 August 1322

House of Bruce (1306–1371) (Bruis)

In 1306, Robert the Bruce and his wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, were crowned King and Queen of Scots at Scone, ending the Scottish interregnum. The Bruce family would rule until the death of David II in 1371.

PictureNameFather (House)BirthMarriageBecame consortCoronationCeased to be consortDeathSpouse
Elizabeth de BurghRichard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster
(de Burgh)
c. 1289130225 March 130627 March 130627 October 1327Robert I
Joan of EnglandEdward II of England
(Plantagenet)
5 July 132117 July 13287 June 1329November 13317 September 1362David II
Margaret DrummondSir Malcolm Drummond
(Drummond)
c. 134020 February 136420 March 1369
Divorced by husband
31 January 1375

House of Stewart (1371–1707) (Gælic: Stiubhart)

Direct line (1371–1542)

Upon the death of David II in 1371, his nephew, Robert Stewart (the son of Walter Stewart and Marjorie Bruce, herself the daughter of Robert I by his first marriage) acceded to the throne. His direct line of heirs would continue to rule until the death of his last direct male descendant, James V. James left only a six-day-old girl as his heir, prompting his angry exclamation, "The devil go with it! [The rule of the Stewarts] will end as it began. It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass." In this he was wrong: Mary would marry a member of a junior branch of the Stewart family, and the line they founded would rule not only Scotland but also England and Ireland until 1714. However, the final Stewart monarch was a woman, Anne, Queen of Great Britain.

PictureArmsNameFather (House)BirthMarriageBecame consortCoronationCeased to be consortDeathSpouse
Euphemia de RossAodh, Earl of Ross
(Ross)
before 13332 May 135522 February 13711386Robert II
Anabella DrummondJohn Drummond, 11th Thane of Lennox
(Drummond)
c. 1350136719 April 1390August 13901401Robert III
Joan BeaufortJohn Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
(Beaufort)
c. 14042 February 142421 May 142421 February 143715 July 1445James I
Mary of GueldersArnold, Duke of Guelders
(Egmond)
c. 14343 July 14493 August 14601 December 1463James II
Margaret of DenmarkChristian I of Denmark
(Oldenburg)
23 June 1456July 1469before 14 July 1486James III
Margaret of EnglandHenry VII of England
(Tudor)
28 November 148925 January 1502 (by proxy)
8 August 1503
8 August 15039 September 151318 October 1541James IV
Madeleine of ValoisFrancis I of France
(Valois)
10 August 15201 January 15377 July 1537James V
Mary of GuiseClaude, Duke of Guise
(Guise)
22 November 151518 May 153822 February 154014 December 154211 June 1560

House of Stuart (1542–1649)

In 1542, James V died, leaving his daughter Mary as Queen of Scots. Mary was later sent by her mother to the French court, where her surname was gallicised to Stuart. Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a member of a junior branch of the Stewart family (who had also gallicised their surname to Stuart). Their son, James VI, established the Stuart dynasty, which would rule not only Scotland but also England and Ireland. Their rule was briefly terminated with the Civil War, in which Charles I was executed and the Commonwealth declared; between 1649 and 1660, England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled by Parliament, dominated by Oliver Cromwell.

PictureArmsNameFather (House)BirthMarriageBecame consortCoronationCeased to be consortDeathSpouse
Francis II of FranceHenry II of France
(Valois)
19 January 154424 April 15585 December 1560Mary I
Henry StuartMatthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox
(Stuart)
7 December 154529 July 15659/10 February 1567
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of BothwellPatrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell
(Hepburn)
c. 153415 May 156724 July 1567
Wife's abdication
14 April 1578
Anne of DenmarkFrederick II of Denmark
(Oldenburg)
12 December 157423 November 158917 May 15902 March 1619James VI
Henrietta Maria of FranceHenry IV of France
(Bourbon)
25 November 160913 June 162530 January 1649
husband's execution
10 September 1669Charles I

House of Stuart (restored) (1660–1707)

In 1660, Charles II, son of the executed Charles I, was restored to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Stuart rule began again. James VII, his brother, was overthrown in 1688–89 because of his Catholic faith; his daughters, Mary II and Anne, were the last Stuarts to rule in the British Isles, Anne dying in 1714. The Kingdom of Scotland, however, had already ceased to exist in 1707, when the Act of Union amalgamated the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into a united Kingdom of Great Britain. James VII's son, James Francis Edward Stuart, refusing to accept the Act of Union, claimed the English and Scottish thrones, as did his son Charles Edward Stuart; however, they are not considered legitimate Kings of Scotland, since they never effectively secured their claims, and so their wives are not listed here.

PictureNameFather (House)BirthMarriageBecame ConsortCoronationCeased to be ConsortDeathSpouse
Catherine of BraganzaJohn IV of Portugal
(Braganza)
25 November 163821 May 16626 February 168531 December 1705Charles II
Mary of ModenaAlfonso IV d'Este, Duke of Modena
(Este)
5 October 165830 September 16736 February 168523 April 168511 December 16887 May 1718James VII
George of DenmarkFrederick III of Denmark
(Oldenburg)
2 April 165328 July 16838 March 17021 May 1707
Kingdoms of Scotland and England amalgamated; Anne becomes Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Great Britain, George royal consort of the same
28 October 1708Anne

See also