What happened to Wolf Hall's Lady Margaret Douglas and did she try to marry behind Henry VIII’s back?

Lady Douglas defiantly tells him that their engagement has already been sealed, prompting a stern rebuke from her own friend and counsel Mary Fitzroy (Viola Prettejohn), who sees the mortal peril this could cause.

But how much of this storyline from Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light is based in historical fact? Read on for everything you need to know about Lady Douglas's secret marriage – and her ultimate fate.

Did Lady Margaret Douglas try to marry behind Henry VIII's back?

Yes, Lady Margaret did attempt to marry behind Henry VIII's back.

As depicted in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, the king is furious when he hears that his niece has entered into an engagement with Thomas Howard without his express authorisation.

Henry's typically controlling behaviour aside, the matter was particularly sensitive as, prior to the birth of the king's long-awaited son Edward, there was still a reasonable possibility that Margaret could become queen at some stage in the future.

Adding insult to injury, her would-be husband Thomas came from the same family as Anne Boleyn, who had only recently been beheaded over accusations of unfaithfulness to the king.

Both Margaret and Thomas were imprisoned in the Tower of London as punishment for their relationship, which some historians consider likely to have been genuinely romantic in nature as opposed to a union of power or convenience.

Although she had initially been reluctant to break ties with Thomas, the custodial sentence eventually compelled Margaret to end the engagement – perhaps in fear that her head could end up on the literal chopping block.

Thomas also escaped that grisly fate, but died soon after the break-up from illness while incarcerated.

What happened to Henry VIII's niece Lady Margaret Douglas?

Lady Margaret Douglas lived a relatively long life for the time and was not executed.

That said, she would be something of a troublemaker throughout the rest of the Tudor dynasty, winding up back in the Tower of London on multiple occasions – but impressively, securing safe release each time.

Following another failed marriage attempt of her own, Margaret was eventually given a Henry VIII-approved spouse in the form of Matthew Stewart, who offered a strategic advantage to the king in the form of soldiers based in Scotland.

They had several children together but only two survived to adulthood, those being Henry and Charles Stuart, the former of which went on to father King James VI of Scotland and I of England.

Nevertheless, Lady Douglas would face numerous ups and downs in her status over the years, in part due to her faith in Catholicism over Protestantism, which put her at odds with both Henry VIII (who removed her from the line of succession).

She enjoyed a more prosperous few years under the reign of fellow Catholic Queen Mary I, her cousin and a close friend, but fell out of favour once more when Protestant Elizabeth I took the throne.

The pair had a rocky relationship, with Elizabeth at one point returning Lady Douglas to the Tower of London for her role in arranging the wedding of her son, Henry Stuart, to rival monarch Mary, Queen of Scots.

After Mary was accused of murdering Henry, she briefly switched allegiances to support Elizabeth, but later reverted back after coming to the conclusion that the Scottish queen had most likely been framed.

Despite standing in opposition to the two most powerful Tudor monarchs, Lady Douglas remarkably avoided being executed, but did die poor after being removed from the succession and denied an inheritance by her father.

Nevertheless, her grandson did become the first king to reign over both England and Scotland, which is quite an impactful legacy to leave behind.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light continues Sundays on BBC One and iPlayer.

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