It was Queen Elizabeth herself who broke the dreadful truth to Margaret of her husband’s death. The queen was at Lees, an estate belonging to Lord Rich, when the news of the murder of Matthew Lennox was brought to her. William Cecil, now Lord Burghley, who was with her, showed his concern for Margaret by promptly writing to Sir Thomas Smith, Clerk of the Council, on 8 December 1571. First describing what had happened, he continued: ‘Let Mr Sadler know thereof; but otherwise disperse it not, lest it be not true that he is dead, and I would not knowledge come to Lady Lennox before she shall have it from the Queen’s Majesty.’1
Margaret is thought to have been living in Islington, at Canonbury House, at the time when Matthew died. Named after the canons of St Bartholemews who built a manor house in the fourteenth century, it had been rebuilt in 1520 before being acquired by Sir John Spencer, together with adjoining land.
The fact that Queen Elizabeth in person told Margaret of what had happened, suggests that she was then attending court. Elizabeth must have tried to console her by telling her that his last words were for her, ‘his dear Meg’.
Margaret’s own reaction to the brutal death of the husband she had so much loved is not recorded. Known to have been hysterical on word of her son’s murder, she may in this instance have collapsed again or else, from sheer strength of character, remained stoic in the public eye. All that is known for certain is that in reaction to both deaths, she set about finding a jeweller who created one of the most beautiful and original memorials to both the husband and the son she had lost.
The Lennox Jewel, eventually bought by Queen Victoria in 1842, is now in the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh. During what remained of her lifetime, Margaret wore it constantly, either on a ring tied to her girdle or on a chain round her neck.
A heart of gold, enamelled with emblems, it epitomises the depth and constancy of her love for the man thrown by fate in her way. The front of the heart shows the Douglas badge in gems. Two angels, in enamel, support the Scottish crown, made of emeralds and rubies. Below them two others hold a large oval sapphire, emblem of widowhood, while the heart remains symbolic of that of Robert the Bruce, carried by the Black Douglas in a pilgrimage against the Saracens in Spain.
The golden heart opens to show a green wreath surrounding two hearts of red enamel with an inscription ‘QUILAT BE RESOLVE’, together with a monogram of the letters ‘M.S.L.’ (Margaret Stuart Lennox) entwined. A death’s head in black on a white ground surmounts the words ‘DEATH SHALL DISSOLVE’. Two hands clasped and a green hunting horn are above another inscription reading ‘QUHA HOPIS STIOL CONSTANTLY WITH PATIENCE SAL OBTEIN VICTORIA IN YAIR PRESENCE’, ‘who hopes still constantly with patience, shall obtain victory in your presence’.
The reverse side of the jewel shows a red Tudor dragon, a phoenix rising from the flames, a Marguerite daisy and, most poignantly, a pelican feeding its young from its bleeding breast, signifying that Matthew died defending his grandson, the little king. Enclosing these emblems, lettering runs ‘MY STAIT TO YOU I MAY COMPARE ZOU QUHA BONTES RAIR’, ‘my state to yours I may compare, you whose bounty’s rare’.
Although large enough to hold a miniature, the locket is empty inside. The shell contains emblems of martyrdom, fire, stakes, a fiend and truth being drawn from a well. A crowned queen sitting on a throne would seem to indicate Mary Queen of Scots, and the inscription ‘GAR TEL MY RELEAS’, followed by several words made unintelligible by time, suggests that Margaret did eventually believe in Mary’s own sworn innocence of involvement in Henry Darnley’s death. Most probably this happened after she had been told that Bothwell, under examination, had declared most vehemently that Mary had been totally unaware of the conspiracy to kill her husband on that dark February night at Kirk o’ Field.
1 Ibid.