Margaret was a daughter of Edward d'Outremer ("The Exile"), next of kin to Edward the Confessor, and sister to Edgar the Atheling, who took refuge from William the Conqueror at the court of King Malcolm Canmore in Scotland.   The young prince Malcolm, who was to become Margaret's husband, was still a child when his father, King Duncan, was killed by Macbeth. It was not until 1054 that Macbeth was driven out and Malcolm established on the throne of Scotland, as readers of Shakespeare's Macbeth will remember.

Margaret, as beautiful as she was good and accomplished, captivated Malcolm, and they were married at the castle of Dunfermline in the year 1070.  Margaret was then twenty-four years old.  Their marriage bestowed great blessings upon Malcolm as well as Scotland.  Malcolm was rough and uncultured, but his disposition was good, and Margaret, through the great influence she acquired over him, softened his temper, polished his manners, and rendered him one of the most virtuous kings who have ever occupied the Scottish throne.  To maintain justice, to establish religion, and to make their subjects happy appeared to be their chief objects in life. 

What she did for her husband Margaret also did in a great measure for her adopted country, promoting the arts of civilization and encouraging education and religion.  She found Scotland a prey to ignorance and to many grave abuses, both among priests and people.  At her instigation, church councils were held which passed enactments to meet these evils.  She herself was present at these meetings, taking part in the discussions.  Attendance at Mass on Sundays and holy days was made obligatory, and the rules for Easter communion and Lent were restored.  Many scandalous practices, such as simony, usury and incestuous marriages, were strictly prohibited.  St. Margaret made it her constant effort to obtain good priests and teachers for all parts of the country, and formed an embroidery guild among the ladies of the court to provide vestments and church furniture.  With her husband she founded several churches, notably that of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline.

God blessed the couple with a family of six sons and two daughters, and their mother brought them up with the utmost care, herself instructing them in the Christian faith and superintending their studies.  Their daughter Matilda married Henry I of England and was known as Good Queen Maud, while three of their sons, Edgar, Alexander, and David, successively occupied the Scottish throne, the last named being revered as a saint.  St. Margaret's care and attention was extended to her servants and household as well as to her own family; yet in spite of all the state affairs and domestic duties in which she was involved, she kept her heart disengaged from the world and recollected in God.  Her private life was most austere:  she ate sparingly, and in order to obtain time for her devotions she permitted herself very little sleep.  Every year she kept two Lents, the one at the usual season, the other before Christmas.  At these times she always rose at midnight and went to the church for Matins.  King Malcolm often shared her vigil.  On her return, she washed the feet of six poor persons and gave them alms.

She also had stated times during the day for prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures.  Her own copy of the Gospels on one occasion was inadvertently dropped into a river, but sustained no damage beyond a small watermark on the cover.  That book is now preserved among the treasures of the Bodleian Library at Oxford.  Perhaps St. Margaret's most outstanding virtue was her love of the poor.  She often visited the sick and tended them with her own hands.  She erected hostels for travelers and ransomed many captives, mostly those of English nationality.  When she appeared outside in public she was invariably surrounded by beggars, none of whom went away unrelieved, and she never sat down at table without first having fed the crowds of paupers and orphans. Often -- especially during Advent and Lent -- the king and queen would entertain three hundred poor persons, serving them on their knees with dishes similar to those provided for their own table.

In 1093, King William Rufus surprised Alnwick castle, putting its garrison to the sword.  King Malcolm and his son Edward were killed in the ensuing hostilities.  St. Margaret at this time was lying on her deathbed.  The day her husband was killed she was overcome with sadness and said to her attendants, "Perhaps this day a greater evil hath befallen Scotland than any this long time."  When her son Edgar arrived back from Alnwick, she asked how his father and brother were.  Afraid of the effect the news might have upon her in her weak state, he replied that they were well.  She exclaimed, "I know how it is!"  Then raising her hands toward Heaven she said, "I thank thee, Almighty God, that in sending me so great an affliction in the last hour of my life, thou wouldst purify me from my sins as I hope, by thy mercy."  Soon afterward she repeated the words, "O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy death hast given life to the world, deliver me from all evil!" and breathed her last.  She died four days after her husband, on November 16, 1093, being in her forty-seventh year, and was buried in the church of the abbey of Dunfermline which she and her husband had founded.  St. Margaret was canonized in 1250.  Dunfermline was sacked in 1560, but the relics were safely removed.  St. Margaret's body, together with that of Malcolm, was transferred to a chapel in the Escorial, outside Madrid.  In 1673, St. Margaret was named a patron of Scotland.   

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