Pembroke's Isabel Marshal is related to Robert the Bruce

Isabel Marshal was born at Pembroke Castle on October 9, 1200, the seventh child of famed knight William Marshal, the 1st earl of Pembroke, and Isabel de Clare.

When she was 17, Isabel was married off to Gilbert de Clare, the 4th earl of Hertford and the 5th earl of Gloucester.

Isabel Marshal

The couple – who had a 20-year age gap – were married at Tewkesbury Abbey and were said to have been happy in their marriage.

They had six children – Agnes de Clare, Amice de Clare, Richard de Clare, Isabel de Clare, William de Clare, and Gilbert de Clare.

When she was 30, Gilbert died and she was left a widow with her six young children. Just five months after his death, she had a marriage proposal from Richard, 1st earl of Cornwall. They married on March 30, 1231, at Fawley Church.

The marriage did not go down well with King Henry III, Richard’s brother, as he had been in the process of arranging a ‘more advantageous’ bride for his sibling.

At one time, it was possible that Isabel could have become Queen of England as Henry had not married and had no legitimate heirs so if anything happened to him, Richard would take the throne and this would lead to his wife becoming queen.

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The couple had four children – John, Isabella, Henry and Nicholas – but only Henry survived past infancy.

Pembroke Castle

In 1239, Henry III had a son, Edward, which put an end to any possibility of Isabel becoming queen. She would die on January 17, 1240, at the age of 39, just hours after giving birth to Nicholas, who would also die that day.

Isabel and Gilbert’s daughter Isabella de Clare married Robert de Brus, 5th lord of Annandale on May 12, 1240. She was 13-and-a-half years old at the time of their nuptials and he was 35.

The couple lived in the village of Ripe and Robert was a candidate to be King of Scotland, but he was unsuccessful, with John Balliol given the crown instead.

They had five children – Robert, William, Bernard, Richard and Isabella. Isabella would die in 1264.

Robert, the couple’s eldest, married Marjorie of Carrick in 1271 and later became the 6th lord of Annandale.

They married without Scottish Royal consent and Marjorie lost her castles and estates, but was able to regain them after paying a fine.

Robert acquired lands after the Battle of Evesham in 1265, a year after he negotiated with his uncle and cousin over the terms of ransom of his father, King Henry III, Richard of Cornwall and Edward I after they had been captured during the Battle of Lewes.

Robert the Bruce by Christian Corbett

In 1270, he sailed with his brother Richard and Edward for a crusade. Robert is said to have not got on with his stepmother – whose estates were added into the Brus lands.

The couple had 11 children – Isabel, Christina, Robert, Nigel, Edward, Mary, Margaret, Thomas, Alexander, Elizabeth and Matilda.

Their eldest son Robert would go on to be the famed king Robert the Bruce, leading Scotland from 1306 to 1329, including during the first War of Scottish Independence. This means that Pembroke-born Isabel Marshal was his great-grandmother.