Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury was sixty-eight years old when Henry VIII ordered her execution in 1541. In an age when most women of her rank faded quietly into retirement, Margaret met a far more violent end — not for anything she had done, but for who she was. She was no ordinary noblewoman. Margaret Pole was the last surviving member of the Plantagenet dynasty, born with royal blood that predated the Tudors themselves. Her lineage alone made her dangerous in the eyes of a paranoid king who saw threats everywhere. For years, Margaret had lived a respectable life. She served as a lady-in-waiting to queens, managed vast estates, and…