English Royalty. Born Margaret Plantagenet at Farleigh Castle, Bath, Wiltshire, England, the daughter of Isabel Neville and George, 1st Duke of Clarence. She was niece to both Edward IV and Richard III. Orphaned by the age of six, she and her brother were brought up with Edward IV's children. Under Richard III, her brother, Edward, became heir presumptive and she, the Princess Royal. After the Tudor usurpation of the throne in 1485, however, Edward was imprisoned, and like many Plantagenets under the new regime, was judicially murdered in 1499. Margaret, however, was given in marriage to Sir Richard Pole, a relative of Henry VII's mother. The couple would have five children. On his accession, Henry VIII reversed her brother's attainder; and in 1513, made her Countess of Salisbury in her own right, making her one of only two women of the time to hold their own titles. She served Catherine of Aragon as Lady in Waiting. With the birth of the Princess Mary, Margaret was her baptismal sponsor, and served as her godmother. She was Princess Mary's first Lady Mistress and oversaw the princess' household, serving as her governess. In 1531, Princess Mary was removed from her charge. They were reunited briefly four years later, but her opposition to divorce for the royal couple caused Henry to again removed Margaret as she was a partisan of the queen. Her son, Cardinal Reginald Pole, published numerous papers in support of Queen Catherine and Princess Mary. In exile on the continent, he could not be touched by the English King, but his mother made a handy scapegoat and she was duly arrested. Margaret was released and returned to court only after Anne Boleyn's dramatic fall from grace. Unfortunately, Reginald Pole then sent King Henry a copy of his treatise ‘Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione,' which included a denunciation of the king's policies. In November, 1538 the vengeful king arrested Pole's brothers Henry Pole and Geoffrey Pole, as well as Baron Montagu, the Marquis of Exeter, Edward Neville, and Sir Nicholas Carew on a charge of treason, and they were committed to the Tower. Ten days later, Margaret was arrested as well. She denounced Reginald as a traitor and even expressed regret that she had given birth to him. In January, Montagu, Exeter, and Carew were executed. In May an Act of Attainder was issued against Margaret, and she was removed to the Tower and held there for nearly two years. On the morning of 27 May 1541, she was suddenly told she was to die within the hour. When she was removed to the place of execution, the elderly and infirm lady declared she was no traitor and refused to lay her head on the block. One version of her death has the inexperienced executioner cutting her down where she stood; another has the lady making a run for it, pursued by the axe wielding executioner. In any event, Margaret died hard, hacked to death in the yard by an inept executioner. Margaret was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower. In 1886 she was beatified as a Roman Catholic martyr by Pope Leo XIII.