James III (10 July 1451 – 11 June 1488) was
King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective
monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the
Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family. However, it was through his marriage to
Margaret of Denmark that the
Orkney and
Shetland islands became Scottish.