John de la Pole
Who was Lady Margaret Beaufort 's spouse from 1444 to 1455?
Lady Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort ( usually pronounced : or ; 31 May 1441/3 – 29 June 1509 ) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century , and mother of King Henry VII of England , the first Tudor monarch . A descendant of King Edward III , Lady Margaret passed a disputed claim to the English throne to her son , Henry Tudor . Capitalising on the political upheaval of the period , she actively manoeuvred to secure the crown for her son . Beaufort’s efforts ultimately culminated in Henry’s decisive victory over King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field . She was thus instrumental in orchestrating the rise to power of the Tudor dynasty , which would produce two of Britains most famous monarchs : Henry VIII ( her grandson ) and Elizabeth I . With her son crowned Henry VII of England , Lady Margaret wielded a considerable degree of political influence and personal autonomy – both unusual for a woman of her time . She was also a major patron and cultural benefactor during her son’s reign , initiating an era of extensive Tudor patronage . She is credited with the establishment of two prominent Cambridge colleges , founding Christs College in 1505 and beginning the development of St Johns College , which was completed posthumously by her executors in 1511 . Lady Margaret Hall , Oxford , the first Oxford college to admit women , is named after her and has a statue of her in the college chapel . Origins . She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort , Duke of Somerset ( 1404–1444 ) , a legitimised grandson of John of Gaunt , 1st Duke of Lancaster ( third surviving son of King Edward III ) by his mistress Katherine Swynford . Lady Margaret was born at Bletsoe Castle , Bedfordshire , either on 31 May 1441 or , more likely , on 31 May 1443 . The day and month are not disputed , as she required Westminster Abbey to celebrate her birthday on 31 May . The year of her birth is more uncertain . William Dugdale , the 17th-century antiquary , suggested that she had been born in 1441 , based on evidence of inquisitions post mortem taken after the death of her father . Dugdale has been followed by a number of Lady Margarets biographers ; however , it is more likely that she was born in 1443 , as in May 1443 her father had negotiated with the king concerning the wardship of his unborn child should he die on campaign . Early years . At the moment of her birth , Margarets father was preparing to go to France and lead an important military expedition for King Henry VI . Somerset negotiated with the king to ensure that if he were to die the rights to Margarets wardship and marriage would be granted only to his wife . As Somerset was a tenant-in-chief of the crown , the wardship of his heir fell to the crown under the feudal system . Somerset fell out with the king after coming back from France and was banished from the royal court pending a charge of treason against him . He died shortly afterwards . According to Thomas Basin , Somerset died of illness , but the Crowland Chronicle reported that his death was a suicide . As his only surviving child , Margaret was heiress to his considerable fortune and inheritor of his contested claim to the throne . Both effectively rendered Margaret , as her biographers Jones and Underwood write , a pawn in the unstable political atmosphere of the Lancastrian court . Upon her first birthday , the king broke the arrangement with Margarets father and granted the wardship of her extensive lands to William de la Pole , 1st Duke of Suffolk , although Margaret herself remained in the custody of her mother . Margarets mother was pregnant at the time of Somersets death , but the child did not survive and Margaret remained the sole heir . Although she was her fathers only legitimate child , Margaret had two maternal half-brothers and three maternal half-sisters from her mothers first marriage whom she supported after her sons accession to the throne . Margaret was married to Suffolks son , John de la Pole . The wedding may have been held between 28 January and 7 February 1444 , when she was perhaps a year old but certainly no more than three . However , there is more evidence to suggest they were married in January 1450 , after Suffolk had been arrested and was looking to secure his sons future by betrothing him to a conveniently wealthy ward whose children could be potential claimants to the throne . Papal dispensation was granted on 18 August 1450 , necessary because the spouses were closely related ( Lady Margaret and de la Pole being the great-grandchildren of two sisters , Katherine Swynford and Philippa Chaucer , respectively ) , and this concurs with the later date of marriage . Margaret never recognised this marriage , and considered her next husband her first ( as is written in her 1472 will ) . Three years later , her marriage to de la Pole was dissolved , and King Henry VI granted Margarets wardship to his own half-brothers , Jasper and Edmund Tudor . In her will , made in 1472 , Margaret refers to Edmund Tudor as her first husband . Under canon law , Margaret was not bound by her first marriage contract as she was entered into the marriage before reaching the age of twelve . Even before the annulment of her first marriage , Henry VI chose Margaret as a bride for his half-brother , Edmund Tudor , 1st Earl of Richmond , likely to strengthen Edmund’s claim to the throne should Henry be forced to designate Edmund his heir ( the king was then without child or legitimate siblings ) . Edmund was the eldest son of the kings mother , Catherine of Valois , by Owen Tudor . At just nine years old Margaret was required to assent formally to the marriage . Later she claimed she was divinely guided to do so . At age twelve Margaret married Edmund Tudor , twelve years her senior , on 1 November 1455 . The Wars of the Roses had just broken out ; Edmund , a Lancastrian , was taken prisoner by Yorkist forces less than a year later . He died of the plague in captivity at Carmarthen on 3 November 1456 , leaving a 13-year-old widow who was seven months pregnant with their child . The Countess always respected the name and memory of Edmund as the father of her only child . In 1472 , sixteen years after his death , Margaret specified in her will that she wanted to be buried alongside Edmund , even though she had enjoyed a long , stable and close relationship with her third husband , who had died in 1471 . Motherhood . While in the care of her brother-in-law Jasper Tudor , on 28 January 1457 , the Countess gave birth to a son , Henry Tudor , at Pembroke Castle . She was thirteen years old at the time and not yet physically mature , so that the birth was extremely difficult . In a sermon delivered after her death , Margaret’s confessor , John Fisher , deemed it a miracle that a baby could be born of so little a personage . Her sons birth may have done permanent physical injury to Margaret ; despite two later marriages , she never had another child . Years later , she would enumerate a set of proper procedures concerning the delivery of potential heirs , perhaps informed by the difficulty of her own experience . Shortly after her re-entry into society after the birth , Jasper helped arrange another marriage for her , in order to ensure the security of her son . She married Sir Henry Stafford ( c . 1425–1471 ) , second son of Humphrey Stafford , 1st Duke of Buckingham , on 3 January 1458 , at the age of fourteen . A dispensation for the marriage , necessary because Margaret and Stafford were second cousins , was granted on 6 April 1457 . They enjoyed a fairly long and harmonious marital relationship and were given Woking Palace , to which Margaret sometimes retreated and which she restored . Margaret and her husband were given 400 marks worth of land by Buckingham , but her own estates were still their main source of income . For a time the Staffords were able to visit Margarets son , who had been entrusted to Jasper Tudors care at Pembroke Castle in Wales . Involvement in the Wars of the Roses . Reign of Edward IV . Years of York forces fighting Lancastrian for power culminated in the Battle of Towton in 1461 , where the Yorkists were victorious . Edward IV was King of England . The fighting had taken the life of Margaret’s father-in-law and forced Jasper Tudor to flee to Scotland and France to muster support for the Lancastrian cause . Edward IV gave the lands belonging to Margaret’s son to his own brother , the Duke of Clarence . Henry became the ward of Sir William Herbert . Again , Beaufort was allowed some visits to her son . In 1469 the discontented Duke of Clarence and Earl of Warwick incited a rebellion against Edward IV , capturing him after a defeat of his forces . Beaufort utilized this opportunity to attempt to negotiate with Clarence , hoping to regain custody of her son and his holdings . Soon , however , Edward was back in power . Warwick’s continued insurrection resulted in the brief reinstallation of the Lancastrian Henry VI in 1470-71 , which was effectively ended with the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Barnet . Faced with York rule once again , Margaret allegedly begged Jasper Tudor , forced to flee abroad once more , to take thirteen-year-old Henry with him . It would be fourteen years before Beaufort saw her son again . In 1471 , Margarets husband , Lord Stafford , died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Barnet , fighting for the Yorkists . At 28 years old , Margaret became a widow again . In June 1472 , Margaret married Thomas Stanley , the Lord High Constable and King of Mann . have suggested that Margaret never considered herself a member of the Stanley family . Their marriage was primarily one of convenience ; marrying Stanley enabled Margaret to return to the court of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville . Indeed , Gristwood speculates Beaufort organized the marriage with the sole aim of rehabilitating her image and securing herself a prime position from which to advocate for her son . Evidently her efforts were successful ; Margaret was chosen by Queen Elizabeth to be godmother to one of her daughters . Holinshed , a Tudor chronicler , claims King Edward IV later proposed a marriage between Beaufort’s son and his own daughter , Elizabeth of York , intending to force Henry Tudor out of his safe haven on the continent . Poet Bernard Andre seems to corroborate this , writing of Tudor’s miraculous escape from the clutches of Edward’s envoys , allegedly warned of the deception by none other than his mother . Reign of Richard III . Following Edwards death and the seizure of the throne by Richard , Margaret was soon back at court serving the new queen , Anne Neville . Margaret carried Annes train at the coronation . Seeking her son’s return to England , Margaret appears to have negotiated with Richard . Despite what these negotiations may suggest , Lady Margaret is known to have conspired with Elizabeth Woodville , mother of the two York princes whom Richard confined to the Tower of London , after rumours spread of the boys murder . It was at this point , according to Polydore Vergil , that Beaufort began to hope well of her son’s fortune . Beaufort is believed to have initiated discussions with Woodville , via mutual physician , Lewis Caerleon , who conveyed secret correspondences between the two women . Together they conspired to supplant King Richard and by joint force replace him with Margaret’s son , Henry Tudor . Their solidified alliance further secured the subsequent dynasty by the agreed betrothal of Henry to Elizabeth of York . They hoped this proposal would attract both Yorkist and Lancastrian support . As to the fate of the princes , it is widely held that Richard III ordered the death of his two nephews to secure his own reign . Gristwood , however , suggests that another was responsible ; Henry Tudor’s path to the throne was certainly expedited by their disappearance , perhaps motive enough for his mother—his highly able and totally committed representative— to give the order . Despite this suggestion , no contemporary sources corroborate the implication , whilst most contemporary accounts outline “her outstanding qualities , her courage , presence of mind , family loyalty , and a deeply felt awareness of the spiritual responsibilities of high office,” as clarified by Jones and Underwood . Before Jones and Underwood , there was no consensus within the scholarly community regarding Margaret’s role or character : historiographical opinions ranged from celebrating her to demonizing her . It was not until the 17th Century that religious retrospective speculations began to criticize Lady Margaret , but even then only as a politic and contriving woman , and never anything beyond shrewd or calculating . All things considered , the words of her own contemporaries , such as Tudor historian Polydore Vergil , continue to extol Lady Margarets noble virtues as the most pious woman , further removing her from accusations of wickedness . Erasmus , in writing about his friend the Bishop , Saint John Fisher , praised Margaret’s support of religious institutions and the Bishop , further attesting the simultaneously pragmatic and charitable nature testified in the funerary sermon dedicated by the Bishop himself , as laid out in a following section . In 1483 Margaret was certainly involved in—if not the mastermind behind—Buckinghams rebellion . Indeed , in his biography of Richard III , historian Paul Murray Kendall describes Beaufort as the Athena of the rebellion . Perhaps with duplicitous motives ( as he may have been desirous of the crown for himself ) , Buckingham conspired with Beaufort and Woodville to dethrone Richard . Margaret’s son was to sail from Brittany to join forces with him , but he arrived too late . In October , Beaufort’s scheme proved unsuccessful ; the Duke was executed and Tudor was forced back across the English Channel . Beaufort appears to have played a large role in financing the insurrection . In response to her betrayal , Richard passed an act of Parliament stripping Margaret of all her titles and estates , declaring her guilty of the following:Forasmoch as Margaret Countesse of Richmond , Mother to the Kyngs greate Rebell and Traytour , Herry Erle of Richemond , hath of late conspired , consedered , and comitted high Treason ayenst oure Soveraigne Lorde the King Richard the Third , in dyvers and sundry wyses , and in especiall in sendyng messages , writyngs and tokens to the said Henry… Also the said Countesse made chevisancez of greate somes of Money… and also the said Countesse conspired , consedered , and imagyned the destruction of oure said Soveraign Lorde...” Richard did , however , stop short of a full attainder by transferring Margaret’s property to her husband , Lord Stanley . He also effectively imprisoned Margaret in her husbands home with the hope of preventing any further correspondence with her son . However , her husband failed to stop Margarets continued communication with her son . When the time came for Henry to press his claim , he relied heavily on his mother to raise support for him in England . 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 , even though his eldest son , George Stanley ( styled Lord Strange ) , was held hostage by Richard . After the battle , 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 . She was invested as a Lady of the Order of the Garter ( LG ) in 1488 . Margaret Beaufort in power . After her sons victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field , the Countess was referred to in court as My Lady the Kings Mother . Her son’s first Parliament reversed the attainder against her and declared her a feme sole . This status granted Beaufort considerable legal and social independence from men . She was allowed to own property separately from her husband ( as though she were unmarried ) and sue in court – two rights denied her contemporary married women . As arranged by their mothers , Henry married Elizabeth of York . The Countess was reluctant to accept a lower status than the dowager queen Elizabeth or even her daughter-in-law , the queen consort . She wore robes of the same quality as the queen consort and walked only half a pace behind her . Elizabeths biographer , Amy Licence , states that this would have been the correct courtly protocol , adding that only one person knew how Elizabeth really felt about Margaret and she did not commit it to paper . Margaret had written her signature as M . Richmond for years , since the 1460s . In 1499 , she changed her signature to Margaret R. , perhaps to signify her royal authority ( R standing either for regina – queen in Latin as customarily employed by female monarchs – or for Richmond ) . Furthermore , she included the Tudor crown and the caption et mater Henrici septimi regis Angliæ et Hiberniæ ( and mother of Henry VII , king of England and Ireland ) . Many historians believe the departure from court of dowager queen Elizabeth Woodville in 1487 was partly at the behest of Henrys influential mother , though this is uncertain . Beaufort exerted considerable political influence within the Tudor court . The power she exercised was evidently obvious ; a report from Spanish envoy Pedro de Ayala dating to 1498 claimed Henry was much influenced by his mother and his followers in affairs or personal interest and in others . In the earlier years of her sons reign , records indicate Margaret usually accompanied the royal couple when they traveled . While Margarets position in the royal court was , to some extent , an expression of gratitude by her son , she was likely far less the passive recipient of Henrys favor one might expect . As Gristwood suggests in the following , Beaufort instead actively contrived to further her standing : A place had to be created for the sort of kings mother Margaret was determined to be . Perhaps if Margaret had become a queen , a role that she clearly felt Fortune had denied her , she would not have felt the need to press for her rights quite so stridently . Lady Margarets immediate petitions were not for queenly powers of rule over others , but were two succinct demands for independence and liberty of self , which were products of expert legal advice , as opposed to a desperate desire to rule . The first Act reversed the legislation that had robbed Margaret of her properties under the reign of Richard III , deeming it entirely void , annulled and of no force or effect . The second Act of November 1485 stated that she would enjoy all her properties and titles , and could pursue any legal action as any single unmarried person might or may do at any time , despite still being married . Moreover , as with many decisions made to secure the new dynasty , these Acts of Parliament passed appear to be a collaborative effort , mutually beneficial to both mother and son , as by granting Margaret the status of a femme sole , Henry and his Parliament made it possible to empower the Kings Mother without giving further leverage to the Stanleys , since Margaret could use any wealth granted to her for her own purposes , thereby circumventing the prevailing idea of coverture . In his chronicle , Polydore Vergil assessed the partnership between the Tudor king and his mother , noting that Henry gave her a share of most of his public and private resources , contrary to any assertion that Margaret desired greater power . Or , as King Henry Tudor states in a letter to his mother : ...not only in this but in all other things that I may know should be to your honour and pleasure , and will of your self , I shall be as glad to please you as your heart can desire.” Lady Margarets wardship of brothers Edward Stafford , 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Henry Stafford , 1st Earl of Wiltshire is one of many examples of how her unique position allowed her in varying aspects to operate beyond the scope of any queen , a position which , instead hindering or irritating her at all , proved advantageous to the state of the Crown and delineated her as a helpful and happy agent of its course , as she refused monetary recompense for her stewardship in this arena and successfully secured the allegiance of the Duke of Buckingham to King Henry Tudor , a loyalty that would fade away from the Crown once she and her son were gone . Later in her marriage , the Countess preferred living alone . In 1499 , with her husbands permission , she took a vow of chastity in the presence of Richard FitzJames , Bishop of London . Taking a vow of chastity while being married was unusual but not unprecedented . The Countess moved away from her husband and lived alone at Collyweston , Northamptonshire ( near Stamford ) . She was regularly visited by her husband , who had rooms reserved for him . Margaret renewed her vows in 1504 . From her principal residence at Collyweston she was given a special commission to administer justice over the Midlands and the North . Beaufort was also actively involved in the domestic life of the royal family . She created a proper protocol regarding the birth and upbringing of royal heirs . Though their relationship is often portrayed as antagonistic , Beaufort and her daughter-in-law Elizabeth worked together when planning the marriages of the royal children . They wrote jointly of the necessary instruction for Catherine of Aragon , who was to marry Elizabeth’s son , Prince Arthur . Both women also conspired to prevent Princess Margaret from being married to the Scottish king at too young an age ; in this matter , Gristwood writes , Beaufort was undoubtedly resolved that her granddaughter should not share her fate . After Elizabeth’s death in 1503 , Margaret became the principal female presence at court . When the death of Prince Arthur necessitated a new heir apparent , Margaret played a part in ensuring Prince Henry was raised appropriately by selecting some members of his new household . The Countess was known for her education and her piety . Biographers Jones and Underwood claim the entirety of Beaufort’s life can be understood in the context of her deeply-felt love and loyalty to her son . Henry is said to have been likewise devoted . A surviving letter written by Henry to his mother reveals his sense of gratitude and appreciation : All which thyngs according to your desire and plesure I have with all my herte and goode wille giffen and graunted unto you… I shall be as glad to plese you as youre herte can desire hit , and I knowe welle that I am as much bounden so to doe as any creture lyvyng , for the grete and singular moderly love and affection that hit hath plesed you at all tymes to ber towards me . Henry VII died on 21 April 1509 , having designated his mother chief executrix of his will . For two days after the death of her son , Margaret scrambled to secure the smooth succession of her grandson , Henry VIII . She arranged her sons funeral and her grandsons coronation . At her sons funeral she was given precedence over all the other women of the royal family . Before her death Beaufort also left her mark on the early reign of Henry VIII ; when her eighteen-year-old grandson chose members of his privy council , it was Margarets suggestions he took . Death . The Countess died in the Deanery of Westminster Abbey on 29 June 1509 . This was the day after her grandson Henry VIIIs 18th birthday , 5 days after his coronation and just over two months after the death of her son . She is buried in the Henry VII Chapel of the Abbey . Her tomb is now situated between the later graves of William III and Mary II and the tomb of Mary , Queen of Scots . Her tomb was created by Pietro Torrigiano , who probably arrived in England in 1509 and received the commission in the following year . The gilded bronze sculpture on the tomb depicts Margaret with her head resting on pillows and her hands raised in prayer , wearing garments characteristic of widowhood ; the face was probably sculpted from a death mask . The black marble tomb is embellished with heraldic bronze insignia , including a yale , her heraldic badge , at her feet . Erasmus wrote the Latin inscription on her tomb . In English it reads : Margaret , Countess of Richmond , mother of Henry VII , grandmother of Henry VIII , who donated funds for three monks of this abbey , a grammar school in Wimborne , a preacher in the whole of England , two lecturers in Scripture , one at Oxford , the other at Cambridge , where she also founded two colleges , one dedicated to Christ , and the other to St John , the Evangelist . In 1539 iron railings , elaborately painted with coats of arms and other ornaments , were erected around the tomb . The ironwork was sold off by the Abbey in 1823 but recovered and restored a century later . Legacy . Lady Margaret Beaufort was a lifelong artistic patron and supporter of academia . While married to Lord Stanley Margaret endowed the building of chapels in Wales . Like Edward IV and his court , she was also involved with the advances in printing of William Caxton and his successor Wynkyn de Worde , not only as a patroness but for her own acquisition . The first book she commissioned from Caxton in 1483 was the 13th-century French romance Blanchardin et Eglantine , which mirrored fairly closely the match she was forging in secret between her son Henry and Elizabeth of York , with the aid of Elizabeth Woodville , then in sanctuary from Richard III in Westminster Abbey . Six years later , after Richards defeat by Henry at Bosworth , she commissioned an English translation of the romance from Caxton : it heralded the beginning of a period of Tudor patronage . Apart from encouraging book production and building her own library , Margaret also achieved considerable success as a translator , becoming the first English translator of the Imitation of Christ known by name , as well as translating the fifteenth-century Netherlandish treatise The Mirror of Gold for the Sinful Soul from a French intermediary . In 1497 she announced her intention to build a free school for the general public of Wimborne . Following her death in 1509 , Wimborne Grammar School came into existence , to become Queen Elizabeths School , Wimborne Minster . In 1502 she established the Lady Margarets Professorship of Divinity at the University of Cambridge . In 1505 she refounded and enlarged Gods House , Cambridge as Christs College , Cambridge with a royal charter from the king . She has been honoured ever since as the Foundress of the College . A copy of her signature can be found carved on one of the buildings ( 4 staircase , 1994 ) within the College . In 1511 , St . Johns College , Cambridge was founded by her estate , either at her direct behest or at the suggestion of her chaplain , John Fisher . Land that she owned around Great Bradley in Suffolk was bequeathed to St . Johns upon its foundation . Her portraits hang in the Great Halls and other college rooms of both Christs and St . Johns , accompanied by portraits of John Fisher . Unusually , both colleges have the same coats of arms , using her crest and motto . Furthermore , various societies , including the Lady Margaret Society as well as the Beaufort Club at Christs , and the Lady Margaret Boat Club at Johns , were named after her . In 1502 she endowed a lectureship in divinity at the University of Oxford , first held by John Roper ; it became the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity , held concurrently with a canonship at Christ Church , Oxford . Lady Margaret Hall , the first womens college at the University of Oxford ( founded in 1878 ) , was named in her honour . A practical woman , when faced with problems of flooding in parts of the Fens that threatened some of her properties , she was able to initiate an ambitious drainage scheme , involving foreign engineers , that saw the construction of a large sluice at Boston . She funded the restoration of Church of All Saints , Martock in Somerset , and the construction of the church tower . Margaret Beaufort Middle School ( formerly Margaret Beaufort County Secondary Modern School ) in Riseley , Bedfordshire , near her birthplace at Bletsoe Castle , is named after her . Portraits . There is no surviving portrait of Margaret Beaufort dating from her lifetime . All known portraits , however , are in essentially the same format , depicting her in her later years , wearing a long , peaked , white headdress and in a pose of religious contemplation . Most of these were made in the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I as symbols of loyalty to the Tudor regime . They may be based on a lost original , or be derived from the sculpture on her tomb in Westminster Abbey , in which she wears the same headdress . One variant of the portrait by Meynnart Wewyck in 1510 by Rowland Lockey from the late 1590s shows her at prayer in her richly furnished private closet behind her chamber . The plain desk at which she kneels is draped with a richly patterned textile that is so densely encrusted with embroidery that its corners stand away stiffly . Her lavishly illuminated Book of Hours is open before her , with its protective cloth wrapper ( called a chemise binding ) , spread out around it . The walls are patterned with oak leaf designs , perhaps in lozenges , perhaps of stamped and part-gilded leather . Against the wall hangs the dosser of her canopy of estate , with the tester above her head ( the Tudor rose at its centre ) supported on cords from the ceiling . The coats-of-arms woven into the tapestry are of England ( parted as usual with France ) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts , which the early Tudor kings later used in their arms . Small stained glass roundels in the leaded glass of her lancet windows also display elements of the arms of both England ( cropped away here ) and Beaufort . Depictions in the media . In historical fiction . - Betty King , The Lady Margaret ( 1965 ) , a story about the marriage of Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor , parents of King Henry VII - Betty King , The Kings Mother ( 1969 ) , sequel to the above , the story of the widowed Margaret Beaufort , mother of the future King Henry VII - Iris Gower , Destinys Child ( 1999 ) . This novel was originally published in 1974 as Bride of the Thirteenth Summer , under the name Iris Davies . - Philippa Gregory : - The Constant Princess ( 2005 ) , a story about the young Catherine of Aragon and her early life in England - The White Queen ( 2009 ) , Book 1 in the Cousins War series , about Elizabeth Woodville - The Red Queen , ( 2010 ) , Book 2 in the Cousins War series , about Margaret Beaufort herself - The Lady of the Rivers ( 2011 ) , Book 3 in the Cousins War series , about Jacquetta of Luxembourg - The Kingmakers Daughter ( 2012 ) , Book 4 in the Cousins War series , about Anne Neville - The White Princess ( 2013 ) , Book 5 in the Cousins War series , about Elizabeth of York - Rebecca Gablé , ( translated : The Game of Kings ) ( 2007 ) – the third instalment ( 1455–1485 ) of the Waringham series by the German author ; Margaret ( Megan ) Beaufort is one of the characters - Livi Michael , Succession ( 2014 ) – about Margaret of Anjou and Margaret Beaufort On screen . - Lady Margaret was portrayed by Marigold Sharman , in eight of the thirteen episodes of the BBCs Shadow of the Tower ( 1972 ) with James Maxwell as her son Henry VII . - Channel 4 and RDF Media produced a drama about Perkin Warbeck for British television in 2005 , Princes in the Tower . It was directed by Justin Hardy and starred Sally Edwards as Lady Margaret , opposite Paul Hilton as Henry VII , Mark Umbers as Warbeck , and Nadia Cameron Blakey as Elizabeth of York . - In 2013 , Amanda Hale portrayed Lady Margaret Beaufort in the television drama series , The White Queen , an adaptation of Gregorys novels , which was shown on BBC One , Starz , and VRT . - In the 2017 series The White Princess ( a follow-up to The White Queen ) , Margaret is portrayed by Michelle Fairley . She is portrayed later in life by Harriet Walter in 2019s The Spanish Princess , a follow-up to both The White Queen and The White Princess . In music . - In 2020 , Renée Lamb portrayed Margaret Beaufort on the cast recording of A Mothers War , a musical based on the Wars of the Roses .