Editing Margaret Tudor (section)

== Regency and second marriage ==
[[Parliament of Scotland|Parliament]] met at [[Stirling]] not long after Flodden, and confirmed Margaret in the office of regent. A woman was rarely welcome in a position of supreme power, and Margaret was the sister of an enemy king, which served to compound her problems. Before long a pro-French party took shape among the nobility, urging that she should be replaced by [[John Stewart, Duke of Albany]], the closest male relative to the infant prince, and now third in line to the throne.

Albany, who had been born and raised in France, was seen as a living representative of the [[Auld Alliance]], in contrast with the pro-English Margaret. She is considered to have acted calmly and with some degree of political skill. By July 1514, she had managed to reconcile the contending parties, and Scotland – along with France – concluded peace with England that same month. But in her search for political allies among the fractious Scottish nobility she took a fatal step, allowing good sense and prudence to be overruled by emotion and the personal magnetism of [[Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus]].

[[File:Arms of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots.svg|right|150px|thumb|Margaret's coat of arms as Queen consort of Scotland]]
In seeking allies Margaret turned more and more to the powerful [[House of Douglas]]. She found herself particularly attracted to the Earl of Angus, whom even his uncle, the cleric and poet [[Gavin Douglas]], called a "young witless fool".<ref>{{Harvp|Strickland|1855|p=155}}</ref> Margaret and Douglas were secretly married in the parish church of [[Kinnoull]], near [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]], on 6 August 1514. Not only did this alienate the other noble houses but it immediately strengthened the pro-French faction on the council, headed by [[James Beaton|James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow]]. By the terms of the late king's will she had sacrificed her position as Regent of Scotland, and before the month was out, she was obliged to consent to the appointment of Albany.

In September, the [[Privy Council of Scotland|Privy Council]] decided that she had also forfeited her rights to the supervision of her sons, whereupon in defiance she and her allies took the princes to [[Stirling Castle]]. In November, Margaret devised a code for letters sent to Henry VIII, saying that those signed "Your loving sister, Margaret R" would be genuine, and others might be the result of coercion by her enemies.<ref>Ken Emond, ''Minority of James V'' (John Donald: Edinburgh, 2019), pp. 29, 51.</ref>