Marjorie Bruce was named after her father's mother, Marjorie, Countess of Carrick. According to legend, Marjorie's parents had been very much in love, and Robert the Bruce did not remarry until 1302 (six years after his first wife’s death), to a courtier named Elizabeth de Burgh. On 27 March 1306, her father was crowned King of Scots at Scone, Perthshire, and Marjorie, then 10 years old, became a Princess of Scotland. Three months after the coronation, in June, 1306, her father was defeated at the Battle of Methven. He sent his wife, two sisters, and Marjorie north with his supporter Isabella MacDuff,
Wars of Scottish Independence around 2,000 Scots had been slain. Edward Balliol then had himself crowned King of Scots, first at Perth, and then again in September at Scone Abbey. Balliol's success surprised Edward III, and fearing that Balliol's invasion would eventually fail leading to a Scots invasion of England, he moved north with his army. In October, Sir Archibald Douglas, now Guardian of Scotland, made a truce with Balliol, supposedly to let the Scottish Parliament assemble and decide who their true king was. Emboldened by the truce, Balliol dismissed most of his English troops and moved to Annan, on the north shore of