Margaret's lands were forfeited when her husband was attainted in the wake of his father's failed attempt to usurp the throne in favour of Jane Grey.

[4] In early 1558, Margaret was betrothed to Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who had recently been widowed by the death of his first wife, Lady Mary FitzAlan.

For the marriage to be valid according to Roman Catholic canon law, a dispensation was requested from Pope Paul IV because Howard's first wife was Margaret's first cousin.

These delays, added to the fact that in November of the same year, Catholic Queen Mary I died and was succeeded by Elizabeth I who began to restore Protestantism, led to the marriage being celebrated without the dispensation.

The Duke and Duchess had four children: At Christmas 1563, Margaret, anxious to be reunited with her husband, left Audley End, despite being still weak from the birth of her fourth child a few days before.