Margaret probably didn’t seethe at Herbert’s custodianship. After Jasper lost at Towton, Edward IV sold Herbert Henry’s wardship. Jasper may have looked after Henry until he was about five. There is evidence from later in her life that sex repulsed her and she never had children again – either due to the damage from the delivery or avoidance. In a wind-torn tower at Pembroke Castle, the physically immature Margaret nearly died birthing a sickly Henry Tudor. Immediately, she travelled across plague-infested Wales to seek Jasper’s protection. Being a potential claimant during a fight over who gets to be king endangered the heavily pregnant Margaret. Meanwhile, the Wars of the Roses had begun and Edmund left Margaret to fight, where Yorkists captured him and he succumbed to plague that November. By mid-1456, Edmund succeeded: Margaret was thirteen years old and pregnant. If he could impregnate Margaret, he would share in her estates for life. Spurred on by greed, he hastily consummated the marriage. Henry probably decided to marry Margaret to Edmund to bolster his claim to the throne.Įdmund married Margaret shortly after she turned twelve, the age of consent. Henry VI dissolved Margaret’s marriage and gave her wardship to his half-brothers Edmund and Jasper Tudor. Queen Margaret of Anjou summoned Margaret and her mother to court. With her guardian now dead, Margaret’s life sharply altered course. Sailing to Calais, Suffolk’s enemies captured his ship, staged a mock trial, and beheaded him on the shore. Suffolk’s detractors charged he intended to use the Beaufort marriage to crown his son, so Henry VI banished Suffolk for five years.

When Margaret was six, people came to see her as an heir to the childless Henry VI. Suffolk quickly betrothed and possibly married one-year old Margaret to his two-year old son – an act that proved to be a fatal mistake.

Portrait jasper tudor