Margaret Beaufort Biography

Birth of Margaret Beaufort, daughter of Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe and John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset. Margarets father was a great-grandson of King Edward III through his third surviving son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster

Married to Suffolks son, John de la Pole

Marries Edmund Tudor the Earl of Richmond. Before the annulment of her first marriage, Henry VI chose Margaret as a bride for his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. Edmund was the eldest son of the King's mother, Catherine of Valois, by Owen Tudor

Margaret was 12 when she married the 24-year-old Edmund Tudor

Taken into the care of her brother-in-law Jasper, at Pembroke Castle, the Countess gave birth to her only child, Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII of England

Death of Edmund Tudor, dies of the plague in captivity at Carmarthen the following, leaving a 13-year-old widow who was seven months pregnant with their child

Birth of Henry VII, son of Margaret Beaufort

The 14-year-old Margaret marries Sir Henry Stafford, son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Margaret marries Thomas Stanley, the Lord High Constable and King of Mann. Margarets marriage to Stanley enabled her to return to the court of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville

As Queen Elizabeth's sons, the Princes in the Tower, were presumed murdered, it was agreed that Margarets son, Henry, would be betrothed to Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Elizabeth and Edward IV, thus creating a marriage alliance with potential to attract both Yorkist and Lancastrian support

Carries Queen Annes train at Richard IIIs coronation

A gale ended their dream, and in England, a premature uprising in Kent forewarned Richard that Buckingham had changed sides. Margaret secretly plotted with the Dowager Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and was almost certainly involved in Buckinghams rebellion

Seven ships from Brittany carrying over 500 Bretton soldiers, Henry Tudor, and many of his supporters were to have simultaneously uprise against Richard III.

The plot revolved around Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who had become disaffected from Richard III, and had backing from the exiled Henry Tudor (the future king Henry VII) & Margaret Beaufort.

After the Battle of Bosworth, it was Stanley who placed the crown on the head of his stepson (Henry VII), who later made him Earl of Derby.

Margaret was then styled "Countess of Richmond and Derby".

This record states: Margarets husband Stanley, despite having fought for Richard III during the Buckingham rebellion, did not respond when summoned to fight at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, remaining aloof from the battle.

This record states: even though his eldest son, George Stanley (styled Lord Strange), was held hostage by Richard.

Announced her intention to build a free school for the general public of Wimborne, Dorset. With her death in 1509, Wimborne Grammar School, now Queen Elizabeth's School, came into existence

Refounded and enlarged Gods House, Cambridge as Christs College, Cambridge with a royal charter from the King

Death of Margaret Beaufort

Buried in the Henry VII Lady Chapel of the Abbey, in a black marble tomb topped with a bronze gilded effigy and canopy. She is now situated between the later graves of William and Mary and the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots