Alexander of Scotland

Alexander of Scotland, Prince of Scotland, (21 January 1264 - 17 January 1284) was the son of Alexander III of Scotland and his Queen Consort Margaret of England, and heir to the throne of Scotland. He was the grandson of Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland.

Alexander was born at Jedburgh. He married Margaret of Flanders (d. 1331), daughter of Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders, on 14 November 1282 at Roxburgh. No children were born of this union.

He died at Lindores Abbey in 1284, and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. His death created a succession crisis, as his younger brother David of Scotland (1273-1281) had died at the age of 8, three years earlier, and his widowed father had no other legitimate sons. This caused Alexander's father to induce the Estates to recognize as his heir-presumptive, Margaret, Maid of Norway, Alexander's niece by his sister Margaret, and to contract a second marriage to Yolande de Dreux on 1 November 1285, though only a stillborn child would result of this union.

The far reaching effects, of Alexander's death, on Scotland can not be underestimated. Had he lived and inherited the throne, John Balliol would not have been appointed as King of Scotland by Edward I of England, bringing Scotland under the control of England, and resulting in the eventual war between the two countries.