Gruoch of Scotland

Gruoch was an eleventh-century Scottish noblewoman who became queen through her marriage to Macbeth. She was a granddaughter of a Scottish king and had a dynastic claim that strengthened Macbeth’s position.

Very little is securely known about her life, and Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is a dramatic invention rather than a reliable portrait. The historical Gruoch belonged to a network of royal kin whose rival claims shaped succession in medieval Scotland.