A painting depicting a Scottish queen who became a medieval saint has gone on display in its permanent home in Durham Cathedral.

The cathedral chapter commissioned the work, Margaret and David 2003, by acclaimed London-based Portuguese painter Paula Rego.

She was a guest at the Founders and Benefactors Service, on Sunday, when it was dedicated and unveiled.

The painting, in the cathedral's Chapel of Nine Altars, will form the centre piece of a new altar being created in honour of Queen Margaret of Scotland, who was later canonised to become Saint Margaret.

As the Scottish queen, she was believed to have been present, with husband King Malcolm, at the ceremony when the foundation stone was laid at the cathedral, in August 1093.

She died three months later, legend has it "of a broken heart", after Malcolm and their eldest son were killed in an invasion of Northumbria, at Alnwick.

The painting, a 150cm by 90cm pastel on paper, mounted on aluminium, features Margaret holding her prized gospel book, sitting alongside her teenage son, David, who became King David I of Scotland.

The Dean of Durham, the Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove said: "Commissioning great art for great spaces is always a major event.

"It is not altogether a comfortable image, but it belongs so well in a building that stands for a perspective on life lived not simply for the day, but in the light of eternity."

It is hoped the altar will be completed in time to be dedicated on St Margaret's Day, next November.