Traditionally, the wake of invasion or revolution presents a sad story of the deposed monarchy. The early 20th century brought a series of autobiographies of nobles from Spain, and what had been the court of the Russian Tsars.

One of the most beloved of exiled royalty comes from a thousand years ago, in the life of St. Margaret of Scotland who lived and died far from her home. The “Pearl of Scotland” was not Scottish but was from Wessex in England and was a member of the Anglo-Saxon royal family. Born in 1045 A.D., in a very troubled time, she brought her religious faith to a violent kingdom and had an influence which lasted for centuries.

Margaret was actually born in Hungary to an exiled Anglo-Saxon price, Edward the Exile. Edward was in the English royal family at the time of the Viking invasion of King Cnut, and was taken as an infant to the royal court of Sweden and was supposed to have been murdered there. King Olav of Sweden had been an ally of Aethelred the Unready, Edward’s grandfather, and so he spared the child, and eventually had the lad sent to be raised at the royal court of Hungary, where he grew up as a soldier. When the English retook their land from the Danes in the days of King Edward the Confessor, the new king recalled Edward and his young daughter Margaret.

At the English court, Margaret would have been raised as a princess and certainly given an education in the Christian faith. King Edward the Confessor was a deeply religious man and those around him would reflect that. His lasting monument is “The Collegiate Church of St. Peter,” known today as Westminster Abbey, which Margaret would have seen built. Margaret was not only a part of the Royal family, but she was the elder sister of Edgar Aetheling, the presumed heir to the English throne. The death of King Edward the Confessor, however, threw the kingdom into confusion. Two foreign warlords claimed the throne and raised armies to seize it. Edgar was too young to be king, and so the Witan, or king’s council, elected Harold Godwinson, who became Harold II.

Margaret would have seen the new king march off to the north to fight the Danish King Harald Hardrada. At Stamford Bridge the English were victorious and the Danes never invaded again. Harold II marched swiftly south to engage his other rival, Duke William the Bastard of Normandy. Yet after a ferocious fight, Harold II was killed by an arrow hitting his eyeball. Young Edgar Aetheling was immediately elected and crowned as king in the vain hopes that some agreement might be made and the Anglo-Saxon rule might remain. William wanted none of this and marched on London where frightened city burghers surrendered Edgar. On Christmas Day 1066, William I was crowned king. Westminster Abbey would remain the place of English coronations down to the present day.

William spared Margaret and her brother. He was a brutal ruler who few could oppose, but the idea of executing royalty was not something he wanted to countenance. Margaret lived in an uneasy peace, until her mother Agatha took ship for the continent, taking her grandson and Margaret with her. But a storm blew them off course, and they were shipwrecked in Scotland. Margaret would remain there for the rest of her life.

Scotland was then ruled by King Malcolm III, a burly and strong warrior king. Interested in marrying into the English royal family, Malcolm might one day argue that any sons by Margaret were heirs to the lost throne of England. They were married in 1070 and would go on to produce eight children, three of whom would later succeed to the Scottish throne. Just for the record, King Malcolm gets a walk-on part in Shakespeare’s famous play, “Macbeth.” His father, King Duncan, had been usurped by Macbeth, Earl of Moray, and the prince fled to England. On his return, Malcolm fought Macbeth and defeated him at the Battle of Dunsinane and took the throne. The rest of Shakespeare’s famous Scottish play, sad to say, is largely an ahistorical crock.

All accounts agree that the new Queen Margaret was a deeply sincere Catholic Christian. Using her husband’s treasury, she arranged for the founding of churches and monasteries, gave considerable amounts to the poor and built bridges for the peasants to cross dangerous rivers. King Malcolm was not very religious and left the queen to her pious hobbies, but she managed to gain considerable influence over the brute. The chroniclers relate that she had a great civilizing effect on the king. Malcolm could not read, and she spent the evenings reading and sight translating the Latin Bible for her husband, always focusing on the personal morality of good Hebrew kings and rulers. She could often be found stitching ecclesiastical vestments, which at the time was considered a sign of deep piety.

Sadly, domestic bliss does not last forever in medieval royalty. During one of his many raids in England, Malcom was ambushed and fell in battle. When news was brought to Queen Margaret, she collapsed to the floor in grief and died three days later. She and her husband were buried together at Dunfermline Abbey.

Because of her personal piety and loyalty to the Roman Church, Margaret was canonized as a saint by Pope Innocent IV in 1250 A.D. Following her canonization, plans were made to dig her body up and place it in a special new shrine. Legend says when the casket was taken in procession from the original grave, the bearers found that her casket became impossibly heavy when it left its spot by King Malcolm’s grave and could not be carried further. Not to be stopped, the monks dug up Malcolm as well and brought him along so he and Margaret could be buried together again in the Abbey.

If that last story is not true, it certainly should be.