The consorts of the monarchs of Scotland, such as queens consort, princesses consort, and kings consort, bore titles derived from their marriage. The Kingdom of Scotland was first unified as a state by Kenneth I of Scotland in 843, and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom after the Act of Union 1707 when it was merged with the Kingdom of England to become the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The early history of Scotland is confused and often obscure, due largely to information given by the sources of the time and after, which are often contradictory, vague, and lacking in detail. Details of the kings prior to Malcolm III are sparse, and the status of two – Giric and Eochaid – dubious; details of their wives are almost non-existent. Thus, it is practically impossible to construct a list of consorts of Scotland prior to the accession of Macbeth, whose wife Gruoch is well-documented and somewhat notorious.

House of Moray

Although a few details of earlier queens consort are known – for example, Duncan I was married to a woman named in one source as Suthen – the first queen about whom much is known is Gruoch, a daughter of Boite mac Cináeda, himself a son of either Kenneth II or Kenneth III. She was the wife of Macbeth and her son was Lulach. The mother of Máel Snechtai, Lulach's son, was still alive in 1078, when she was seized by Malcolm Canmore, but nothing else is known of her, not even if she and Lulach were married.

Picture Name Father (House) Birth Marriage Became consort Coronation Ceased to be consort Death Spouse
Gruoch of Scotland Boite mac Cináeda
(MacAlpin)		 c. 1015 after 1032 c. 14 August 1040 – 15 August 1057 c. 1060 Macbeth

House of Dunkeld (1058–1286)

In 1058, Malcolm Long-neck of the House of Dunkeld overthrew his cousin, Lulach, and reclaimed the Scottish throne for himself. His family, the House of Dunkeld, would rule until the death of Alexander III in 1286, with whom the House ended. Alexander's heir was his infant granddaughter, Margaret, "the Maid of Norway", of the House of Fairhair; but she died, still unmarried and childless, in late 1290 before reaching Scotland, and was never crowned at Scone. After two years of Interregnum, the controversial John de Balliol was chosen as king (his wife was already dead, and never became queen consort); but after four years of reign, he abdicated, and Scotland entered another Interregnum until 1306.

Picture Name Father (House) Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse
Ingibiorg Finnsdottir Finn Arnesson  ?  ? 1058? – 1058/69? Malcolm III
Margaret of Wessex Edward the Exile
(Wessex)		 c. 1045 1070 – 13 November 1093 16 November 1093
Ethelreda of Northumbria Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria  ? 1093/94 – 1094  ? Duncan II
Sybilla of Normandy Henry I of England
(Normandy)		 1092 1107 – 12/13 July 1122 Alexander I
Maud of Northumbria Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria 1074 1113 April/May 1124 – 1130 David I
Ermengarde de Beaumont Richard I, Viscount de Beaumont
(House of Beaumont)		 c. 1170 5 September 1186 – 4 December 1214 12 February 1233/34 William I
Joan of England John of England
(Plantagenet)		 22 July 1210 21 June 1221 – 4 March 1238 Alexander II
Marie de Coucy Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy
(Coucy)		 c. 1218 15 May 1239 – 6 July 1249 1285
Margaret of England Henry III of England
(Plantagenet)		 29 September 1240 26 December 1251 26 February 1275 Alexander III
Yolande de Dreux Robert IV, Count of Dreux
(Dreux)		 c. 1265 15 October 1285 19 March 1286 2 August 1322

House of Bruce (1306–1371) (Bruis)

In 1306, Robert the Bruce and his wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, were crowned King and Queen of Scots at Scone, ending the Scottish interregnum. The Bruce family would rule until the death of David II in 1371.

Picture Name Father (House) Birth Marriage Became consort Coronation Ceased to be consort Death Spouse
Elizabeth de Burgh Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster
(de Burgh)		 c. 1289 1302 25 March 1306 27 March 1306 27 October 1327 Robert I
Joan of England Edward II of England
(Plantagenet)		 5 July 1321 17 July 1328 7 June 1329 November 1331 7 September 1362 David II
Margaret Drummond Sir Malcolm Drummond
(Drummond)		 c. 1340 20 February 1364 20 March 1369
Divorced by husband		 31 January 1375

House of Stewart (1371–1707) (Gælic: Stiubhart)

Direct line (1371–1542)

Upon the death of David II in 1371, his nephew, Robert Stewart (the son of Walter Stewart and Marjorie Bruce, herself the daughter of Robert I by his first marriage) acceded to the throne. His direct line of heirs would continue to rule until the death of his last direct male descendant, James V. James left only a six-day-old girl as his heir, prompting his angry exclamation, "The devil go with it! [The rule of the Stewarts] will end as it began. It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass." In this he was wrong: Mary would marry a member of a junior branch of the Stewart family, and the line they founded would rule not only Scotland but also England and Ireland until 1714. However, the final Stewart monarch was a woman, Anne, Queen of Great Britain.

Picture Arms Name Father (House) Birth Marriage Became consort Coronation Ceased to be consort Death Spouse
Euphemia de Ross Aodh, Earl of Ross
(Ross)		 before 1333 2 May 1355 22 February 1371 1386 Robert II
Anabella Drummond John Drummond, 11th Thane of Lennox
(Drummond)		 c. 1350 1367 19 April 1390 August 1390 1401 Robert III
Joan Beaufort John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
(Beaufort)		 c. 1404 2 February 1424 21 May 1424 21 February 1437 15 July 1445 James I
Mary of Guelders Arnold, Duke of Guelders
(Egmond)		 c. 1434 3 July 1449 3 August 1460 1 December 1463 James II
Margaret of Denmark Christian I of Denmark
(Oldenburg)		 23 June 1456 July 1469 before 14 July 1486 James III
Margaret of England Henry VII of England
(Tudor)		 28 November 1489 25 January 1502 (by proxy)
8 August 1503		 8 August 1503 9 September 1513 18 October 1541 James IV
Madeleine of Valois Francis I of France
(Valois)		 10 August 1520 1 January 1537 7 July 1537 James V
Mary of Guise Claude, Duke of Guise
(Guise)		 22 November 1515 18 May 1538 22 February 1540 14 December 1542 11 June 1560

House of Stuart (1542–1649)

In 1542, James V died, leaving his daughter Mary as Queen of Scots. Mary was later sent by her mother to the French court, where her surname was gallicised to Stuart. Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a member of a junior branch of the Stewart family (who had also gallicised their surname to Stuart). Their son, James VI, established the Stuart dynasty, which would rule not only Scotland but also England and Ireland. Their rule was briefly terminated with the Civil War, in which Charles I was executed and the Commonwealth declared; between 1649 and 1660, England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled by Parliament, dominated by Oliver Cromwell.

Picture Arms Name Father (House) Birth Marriage Became consort Coronation Ceased to be consort Death Spouse
Francis II of France Henry II of France
(Valois)		 19 January 1544 24 April 1558 5 December 1560 Mary I
Henry Stuart Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox
(Stuart)		 7 December 1545 29 July 1565 9/10 February 1567
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell
(Hepburn)		 c. 1534 15 May 1567 24 July 1567
Wife's abdication		 14 April 1578
Anne of Denmark Frederick II of Denmark
(Oldenburg)		 12 December 1574 23 November 1589 17 May 1590 2 March 1619James VI
Henrietta Maria of France Henry IV of France
(Bourbon)		 25 November 1609 13 June 1625 30 January 1649
husband's execution		 10 September 1669 Charles I

House of Stuart (restored) (1660–1707)

In 1660, Charles II, son of the executed Charles I, was restored to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Stuart rule began again. James VII, his brother, was overthrown in 1688–89 because of his Catholic faith; his daughters, Mary II and Anne, were the last Stuarts to rule in the British Isles, Anne dying in 1714. The Kingdom of Scotland, however, had already ceased to exist in 1707, when the Act of Union amalgamated the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into a united Kingdom of Great Britain. James VII's son, James Francis Edward Stuart, refusing to accept the Act of Union, claimed the English and Scottish thrones, as did his son Charles Edward Stuart; however, they are not considered legitimate Kings of Scotland, since they never effectively secured their claims, and so their wives are not listed here.

Picture Name Father (House) Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse
Catherine of Braganza John IV of Portugal
(Braganza)		 25 November 1638 21 May 1662 6 February 1685 31 December 1705 Charles II
Mary of Modena Alfonso IV d'Este, Duke of Modena
(Este)		 5 October 1658 30 September 1673 6 February 1685 23 April 1685 11 December 1688 7 May 1718 James VII
George of Denmark Frederick III of Denmark
(Oldenburg)		 2 April 1653 28 July 1683 8 March 1702 1 May 1707
Kingdoms of Scotland and England amalgamated; Anne becomes Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Great Britain, George royal consort of the same		 28 October 1708 Anne

See also

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