Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset

Margaret Wotton
Marchioness of Dorset
Portrait of Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset, after Hans Holbein the Younger
Spouse(s)	William Medley Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset
Issue George Medley Lady Elizabeth Grey Lady Katherine Grey Lady Anne Grey Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk Lord John Grey Lord Thomas Grey Leonard Grey Lady Mary Grey
Father	Sir Robert Wotton
Mother	Anne Belknap
Born	1487 Boughton Malherbe, Kent, England
Died	1541 England

Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset (1487–1541) was the second wife of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and the mother of his children, including Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, with whom she engaged in many quarrels during his minority over money and his allowance. Her lack of generosity to Henry shocked her peers as unmotherly, and inappropriate behaviour toward a high-ranking nobleman, relative of King Henry VIII of England. In 1534, she was compelled to answer to the charges that she was an "unnatural mother".

On 10 September 1533, she stood as one of the godmothers of Princess Elizabeth, who would later rule as Queen Elizabeth I of England.

She was the subject of two portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger.

One of her many grandchildren was Lady Jane Grey.

Margaret was born in 1487, the daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe, Kent, and Anne Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap esquire, and sister of Sir Edward Belknap, Two of her brothers held important positions in the government. Sir Edward Wotton was Treasurer of Calais, and Nicholas Wotton was a diplomat who arranged the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves in 1539.

In 1505, Margaret married her first husband, William Medley, esquire, by whom she had one son, George (died 1562). In 1509, sometime after the death of her husband in February of that year, she married as his second wife, Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, the eldest son of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset by Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville. She was styled Marchioness of Dorset upon her marriage.