Royal Profile: Alexander III of Scotland

Statue of Alexander III above the West Door of St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh

     Alexander was born in Roxburgh on September 4, 1241 as the only son of Alexander II and his second wife, Marie de Coucy. His grandfather was William I (the Lion), one of Scotland's longest-reigning and most illustrious monarchs.

     At the age of seven, Alexander's father died and he succeeded to the Scottish throne as Alexander III on July 6, 1249, and his coronation was held one week later at Scone on Moot Hill.

     His early reign as King of Scots was dominated by a power struggle between the two regents who governed in his name: Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, and Alan Durward, Justiciar of Scotia, who eventually patched their difference and agreed to the establishment of a regency that was representative of both men and their factions. On Christmas Day 1051, Alexander was knighted at York by Henry III of England and was married to his daughter, Margaret. The new father-in-law attempted to extract homage from Alexander, so as to recognize Henry as his overlord, but to no avail.

     In 1262, King Alexander reached his majority at the age of 21, and took personal possession of his kingdom. He pledged to continue the program launched by his father to lay claim to the Western Isles (off of Scotland's western coast) from Norway. Hakkon IV of Norway rejected this claim and mounted an invasion force off the coast of the Isle of Arran in 1263. Alexander outwardly sued for peace by calling for negotiations over the future of the Isles, but shrewdly waited until the autumn (with usually bad weather) could begin. Hakkon attacked, and as Alexander expected, a storm came through which damaged the Norwegian fleet and undermined Hakkon's position. Nevertheless, the Norwegians went forward and engaged with the Scots at the Battle of Largs in Ayrshire.

The thistle became Scotland's floral emblem during Alexander's reign

     Prior to the battle taking place, it is believed that the Norwegian soldiers attempted to sneak up on a Scottish encampment by taking their shoes off to reduce noise. One of the soldiers stepped on a prickly thistle and yelled out in pain, resulting in the Scottish soldiers being alerted to the advancing Norsemen. Regardless of the veracity of this account, what is true is that this battle lead to the defeat of the Norwegians and Hakkon was forced to give up the Western Isles and the Isle of Mann to Scotland under the Treaty of Perth of 1266. It is also possible that King Alexander adopted the thistle as Scotland’s floral emblem following the conflict.

     The rest of Alexander's reign was marked by relative peace and prosperity in Scotland. He established good relations with his brother-in-law, Edward I of England, and with his wife (and Edward's sister) Margaret, he attended Edward's coronation at Westminster Abbey on August 19, 1274 . Alexander may have also attended a sitting of the English Parliament as a guest of Edward.

King Alexander seen here as a guest of King Edward at the Parliament of England.

     Alexander III and Queen Margaret had three children: Margaret (who married Eric II of Norway), Alexander, and David, and all three preceded the death of their father. The Queen also died in 1275, and following the death of Prince Alexander in 1284, the Parliament of Scotland voted to make the King's granddaughter, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, his heiress presumptive. 

     At the age of 44, Alexander remarried to Yolande de Dreux - daughter of the Count of Dreux - in the hope of fathering another direct male heir, but he himself perished in a riding accident when his horse stumbled and he fell from a cliff near Kinghorn, Fife on March 19, 1286.

     Upon his death, Margaret, Maid of Norway became Queen of Scots - and the first queen regnant of the British Isles - at the age of three, but died in transit to Scotland four years later. This triggered a succession and constitutional crisis, which resulted in John Balliol ascending to the throne after the adjudication of his and other nobleman's claims by Edward I of England and the Guardians of Scotland.

     Alexander III was buried at Dunfermline Abbey along with his first wife and two sons. His successful and relatively peaceful reign was replaced by more than four decades of political instability, which included the failed reign of John Balliol, English occupation, and the Scottish Wars of Independence. His loss was lamented in the following poem by Andrew of Wyntoun:

Quhen Alysandyr oure kyng was dede,

That Scotland led in luve and le,

Away was sons of ale and brede,

Of wyne and wax of gamyn and gle.

Oure gold was changed into lede,

Cryst, born into vyrgynyte,

Succoure Scotland and remede,

That stat is in perplexyte.

Photo Credit: Kim Traynor via Wikimedia Commons cc, Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc