Marjorie DE BRUCE Princess of Scotland b. 1296
Margorie Bruce, Princess of Scotland was born circa 1297 and died on 2 March 1316 at Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, in childbirth. She was buried at Paisley Abbey, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. (3) Marjorie was named after her father’s mother, Marjorie of Carrick.
- Parents: eldest daughter of Robert I Bruce, King of Scotland by his first wife, Isabella, Lady of Mar (her only child; she died shortly after giving birth). (2)
- Paternal grandparents: Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale and Marjorie of Carrick, 3rd Countess of Carrick.
- Maternal grandparents: Donald, 6th Earl of Mar and Helen ferch Llywelyn.(1)
Married:
- in 1315 to Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, son of James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland and Gille de Burgh.
Child of Margorie Bruce, Princess of Scotland and Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland:
- Robert II Stewart, King of Scotland+ b. 2 Mar 1315/16, d. 19 Apr 1390
Her marriage to Walter, High Steward of Scotland united Clan Stewart and the royal House of Bruce, giving rise to the House of Stewart. Her son was the first Stewart monarch, King Robert II of Scotland.
Most sources agree Marjory was born in December of 1296, the same month Longshanks invaded Scotland and took Berwick. As an author, I could hardly write better foreshadowing for the life Marjory would lead. In June 1306, at the age of 9, she was captured at St. Duthac in Tain, north of Inverness, while trying to escape to safety in Orkney. It is all too easy to imagine the terror of a 9 year old girl, separated from her father, who she knows is fighting not just for his kingdom, but for his life, seeking safety in a church with her aunts and step-mother, and seeing armed men storm into what should have been a place of refuge and safety. It is easy to imagine the terror of wondering what had become of her Uncle Nigel who had tried to protect them, still under attack back at Kildrummy; or what would become of Sir John of Atholl, who had whisked them away from Kildrummy for safety, or her aunts and step-mother.
We know that two of the women captured in the church that day–Isobel MacDuff and Mary Bruce, Marjory’s aunt–would spend years living in cages hung on castle walls. Edward I had a similar cage built for Marjory at the Tower of London, but in a rare moment of softness, reconsidered and instead ordered her held in solitary confinement in the nunnery at Watton. There, the young Marjory lived, virtually alone, for 8 years. She was released after Bannockburn in 1314, when she was still 17, in exchange for English prisoners held by the Scots.
The following year, she married Walter, the 6th High Steward of Scotland, who was only 22 himself at the time, but one of the heroes of Bannockburn. She very quickly became pregnant. The following March, she rode her horse in the late stages pregnancy, fell when it reared, and delivered the future Robert II by c-section on March 2, 1316, according to Electric Scotland. (link6)
She died at the age of barely 19, having spent close to half her life in near-solitary confinement. It hardly gets more tragic than this.
from “Women in History of Scots Descent – Marjory Bruce”
“Whether through rashness, fearlessness or ignorance of the possible consequences, Princess Marjorie went out riding near Paisley while heavily pregnant. Her horse, taking fright at something, reared up, Marjorie was thrown violently to the ground and immediately went into premature labour. Her only child, the future Robert II, was delivered at the roadside by Caesarean section (the first authentic record of such an operation being performed since the birth of the eponymous Julius Caesar). The beautiful Marjorie died within a few hours, aged only about 19 years and 3 months, on 2 March 1316. Her last words are reported to have been ‘He’s a laddie; I ken he’s a laddie; he will be king’. Her improbable dying prophecy eventually came true, but not for another fifty-five years.”