Meticulously detailed ... a fine example of Royal biography and a welcome addition to Tudor narrative history.

Helen Carr, The Spectator

Highly readable

Katherine Harvey, The Times

Linda Porter's thorough and compelling new biography of this oft-overlooked Tudor balances well the tragedy of Margaret's gilded cage with the significance ofher captivating life.

Joanne Paul, BBC History Magazine

Linda Porter brilliantly brings to life the story of a woman who has been side-lined by history for too long. Porter's gripping account rightfully reinstates Margaret Tudor as a daughter and sister of kings, a princess of England, a queen of Scotland, and the matriarch of the next royal dynasty. Porter enables Margaret to boldly emerge from the shadows and be placed at the very centre of sixteenth-century histories of England and Scotland. Vigorously researched and compellingly written, Porter's The Thistle and the Rose is a must-read for any Tudor – or Stuart – enthusiast.

Kate McCaffrey

With her usual narrative flair and meticulous research, Porter draws an engrossing portrait of a fascinating, highly intelligent woman and her important royal legacy.

Elizabeth Fremantle, author of The Poison Bed

A compelling portrait of one of the most fascinating yet overlooked Tudor queens. In elegant style, Linda Porter brings the turbulent power politics of sixteenth-century Scotland to life while never forgetting the human stories within. Vivid and dramatic, this is Tudor history at its finest.

Miranda Malins