Inside the Incredible Tomb of Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox in Westminster Abbey

From History Calling

What are the SECRET MESSAGES in the incredible tomb of Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox in Westminster Abbey and who is inside this royal tomb with her? The mother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and grandmother of James VI and I, she was born in 1515 to Princess Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland and her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus. This meant that she was the granddaughter of Henry VII and Eizabeth of York, the niece of Henry VIII, the cousin of Elizabeth I and the cousin of Mary I and Edward VI. It also meant that her older brother was James V of Scotland. Lady Margaret later married Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox in 1544 and had six children by him, of whom only two survived to adulthood, including Lord Darnley who married Mary, Queen of Scots in 1565 and fathered the future James VI before being murdered in 1567. Lady Lennox’s husband was also murdered in 1576 when he went to Scotland to manage the country for their young grandson. Lady Lennox died herself in 1578. Her tomb in Westminster Abbey is in the Henry VII chapel and sits next to that of her daughter-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots. It shows her lying recumbent, with a French hood and a red dress on. Her children are depicted in statues around the edge of the tomb and there is a lengthy inscription explaining all the famous royals she was related to, both English and Scottish. Why is the crown of Scotland hovering over her son Henry’s head though, why is she wearing a crown too and why was such an elaborate tomb created for a woman who was not royal herself? In this video from History Calling we look at the tomb of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox to find out how her grave was used to tell a dynastic story, even centuries after her death, how that story helped her grandson to take the English throne as James I and what was found when the Hanoverians and later Victorians peered into the tomb.