Alexander (21 January 1264 – 28 January 1284) was an

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the throne of the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a l ...

who never ascended due to his early death.

Early life

Alexander was born on 21 January 1264. He was the second child and elder son of King

Alexander III of Scotland Alexander III (Medieval ; Modern Gaelic: ; 4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) was King of Scots from 1249 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of Perth, by which Scotland acquired sovereignty over the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. His ...

and

Margaret of England Margaret of England (29 September 1240 – 26 February 1275) was Queen of Scots by marriage to King Alexander III. Life Margaret was the second child of King Henry III of England and his wife, Eleanor of Provence, and was born at Windsor Cast ...

, preceded by a daughter named

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

and followed by a son called David. The Scottish crown was determined that the young Alexander should be adequately established. In 1270, he was made

Earl of Fife The Earl of Fife or Mormaer of Fife was the ruler of the province of Fife in medieval Scotland, which encompassed the modern counties of Fife and Kinross. Due to their royal ancestry, the earls of Fife were the highest ranking nobles in the re ...

for the duration of the minority of the heir to the earldom, Duncan III, who was then eight years old. Probably sometime after 1275, Alexander was also made

Lord of Mann The lord of Mann ( gv, Çhiarn Vannin) is the lord proprietor and head of state of the Isle of Man. The current lord proprietor and head of state is Charles III. Before 1504 the head of state was known as King of Mann. Relationship with t ...

, which gave him revenue and a "quasi-royal position of dignity" while also assuring the people of the island that the recently established Scottish rule would be efficient.

Marriage

Alexander's mother, Queen Margaret, died in 1275. It is evident from the letters of Alexander and his sister that the family remained close to their maternal uncle King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a va ...

. Alexander's brother, David, died in 1281, the year when their sister married King

Eric II of Norway Eric Magnusson (1268 – 15 July 1299) (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr Magnússon''; Norwegian: ''Eirik Magnusson'') was the King of Norway from 1280 until 1299. Background Eirik was the eldest surviving son of King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway, and hi ...

. King Alexander did not seek a second wife for about ten years, focusing instead on arranging a suitable marriage for his surviving son, the young Alexander. In 1281, the King started negotiating with

Guy, Count of Flanders Guy of Dampierre (french: Gui de Dampierre; nl, Gwijde van Dampierre) ( – 7 March 1305, Compiègne) was the Count of Flanders (1251–1305) and Marquis of Namur (1264–1305). He was a prisoner of the French when his Flemings defeated the ...

, about his son's marriage to the Count's daughter, also named

. The couple were married on 14 November 1282 at

Roxburgh Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at leas ...

and the marriage was celebrated the following day.

Death

Alexander's sister died in Norway in childbirth in 1283, leaving Alexander as the sole surviving child of the King of Scotland. A week after his twentieth birthday, on 28 January 1284, the young Alexander also died. He was buried at

Dunfermline Abbey Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland Parish Church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was sacked in 1560 during the Scottish Reforma ...

. By April it was clear that his widow was not pregnant and that his sister's daughter,

Margaret, Maid of Norway Margaret (, ; March or April 1283 – September 1290), known as the Maid of Norway, was the queen-designate of Scotland from 1286 until her death. As she was never inaugurated, her status as monarch is uncertain and has been debated by historian ...

, was the new

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

. King Alexander hastened to contract a second marriage, choosing Yolanda of Dreux, but died in 1286.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{authority control 1264 births 1284 deaths House of Dunkeld Scottish princes Heirs apparent who never acceded Burials at Dunfermline Abbey Sons of kings