Margaret was baptised at Toul in Lorraine and, in the care of her father's old nurse Theophanie la Magine, she spent her early years at the castle at Tarascon on the River Rhône in Provence and in the old royal palace at Capua, near Naples in the Kingdom of Sicily. Her mother took care of her education and may have arranged for her to have lessons with the scholar Antoine de la Sale, who taught her brothers. In childhood Margaret was known as "la petite créature". Her family included several prominent women who exercised power in politics, war, and administration as regents and queen-lieutenants. Her mother, Isabella of Lorraine, fought wars on behalf of her husband while he was imprisoned and ruled the Duchy of Lorraine by her own right, and her paternal grandmother, Yolande of Aragorn, ruled the Duchy of Anjou as regent for her son while Margaret was a child, repelling English military presence and supported the disinherited Dauphin. It has been suggested that this family example informed her later actions as regent for her son. Expectations of women's exercise of power were different in Western Europe than in Britain, and Britain at the time was more opposed to women exercising authority. Margaret met with English envoys at Tours on the 4th of May, 1444, to discuss the marriage. On the 24th of May, she was formally betrothed to Henry by proxy. Her uncle, Charles VII of France, who may have suggested the marriage as part of the peace effort, was present. The marriage was negotiated principally by William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, and the settlement included a remarkably small dowry, consisting of 20,000 francs and the unrealised claim, via Margaret's mother, to the occupied territories of Majorca and Minorca. It also contained the promise of a twenty-three month truce with France. Opinions were mixed as to the wisdom of the marriage, but the prevailing understanding was that it represented a genuine effort at peace. Loans were taken out by the government in order to pay for the considerable expense of transporting Margaret to England. Solicitation for loans emphasised the role that the marriage, and Margaret herself, would play in seeking peace with France. This was a theme continued throughout the preparations for her wedding. She arrived in England on the 9th of April, 1445, and travelled to London accompanied by various lords and courtiers.