This worked pretty well and the King of England lived a very peaceful reign. However, his son was not so peaceful. He was King Henry VIII of England and he decided not to use diplomacy with France. Scotland, however, had an old agreement with France, called the Auld Alliance that required Scotland to attack anyone who might attack France, and visa versa. Well, when Henry VIII attacked France, the King James IV attacked England.

This was a pretty good plan, except that the King James IV of Scotland was a bit hot headed and ended up dying in the battle of Flodden. Scotland was left with Margaret, an English Princess and her son who was now King James V of Scotland.

Henry VIII loved his sister and wanted to get along with his nephew King James V so he sent lots of gifts to them. Again, this worked pretty well until the young King James V grew up and married a princess from France. Henry VIII was angry. But the princess didn't live long so Henry VIII calmed down. Unfortunately, King James V decided to marry another French princess and this was the last straw. Henry VIII decided to teach his young nephew a lesson and sent an army to attack Scotland. The English army failed, but this attack made the King James V angry so he sent an army to England.

Unfortunately, the King James V fell ill so he left the army in the charge his general. Only, a lot of the other nobles didn't like the general so the Scottish army didn't do so well. They were heavily defeated at Solway Moss. When the King of Scotland heard his army had failed, he also heard his wife had given birth to a girl. Giving up all hope for an heir, the King James V of Scotland died.

Little did he know, the little girl would be crowned Mary, Queen of Scots, the first queen in Europe to be crowned without marriage.

Henry VIII, wanted his son, the Prince of Wales to wed Mary, Queen of Scots and join to two crowns. So he sent an army to woo her; you might call it a rough wooing. However, her councilors didn't much like the King of England, and they shipped her off to their old friends in France where she would marry the Dauphin, or the son of the King of France, you might call this an Auld Alliance.

The marriage didn't work out. The Dauphin died. So Mary came back to Scotland, where she married her second husband, Lord Darnley.

Well, by this time the King Henry VIII had died and Queen Elizabeth was on the throne of England. Queen Elizabeth decided never to marry, and therefore never have children, which is why they call her the Virgin Queen. Mary, Queen of Scots, did have a child, a son. And, although her second marriage wasn't much better than the first, Darnley died when his house blew up, Mary's son would become King of Scotland.

Eventually, Queen Elizabeth would die and since she had no children, England had to go all the way back to the young Princess Margaret and her son, King James V of Scotland and his daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots and her son, King James VI of Scotland to be their king. Thus the crowns of Scotland and England were united under King James VI of Scotland, I of England.