Margaret (born c. 1045) was the grand-daughter of Edmmund Ironside, King of the English, but was probably born in exile in Hungary, and brought to England in 1057. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, she sought refuge in Scotland, where about 1070 she married the King, Malcolm III. She and her husband rebuilt the monastery of Iona and founded the Benedictine Abbey at Dunfermline. Margaret undertook to impose on the Scottish the ecclesiastical customs she had been accustomed to in England, customs that were also prevalent in France and Italy. But Margaret was not concerned only with ceremonial considerations. She encouraged the founding of schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She argued in favor of the practice of receiving the Holy Communion frequently. She was less successful in preventing feuding among Highland Clans, and when her huspand was treacherously killed in 1093, she herself died a few days later (of grief, it is said).

 

Saint Margaret was canonised in the year 1250 by Pope Innocent IV in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Church, work for religious reform, and charity. She attended to charitable works, and personally served orphans and the poor every day before she ate. She rose at midnight to attend church services every night. She was known for her work for religious reform. She was considered to be an exemplar of the "just ruler", and also influenced her husband and children to be just and holy rulers.

The Roman Catholic Church formerly marked the feast of Saint Margaret of Scotland on June 10, because the feast of "Saint Gertrude, Virgin" was already celebrated on November 16. In Scotland, she was venerated on November 16, the day of her death.

Per the revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969, the Church transferred her feast day to November 16, the actual day of her death. Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate the feast day of "St Margaret, Queen of Scots, Widow" on June 10 as a Semi-Double feast, or a 3rd Class feast.

Queen Margaret University (founded in 1875), Queen Margaret College (Glasgow), Queen Margaret Union, Queen Margaret Hospital (just outside Dunfermline), North Queensferry, South Queensferry, Queen Margaret Academy (Ayr), Queen Margaret College (Wellington) and several streets in Scotland are named after her.

She is also venerated as a saint in the Anglican Church.