The Nine: Scottish Dukes

10th Duke of Roxburghe,
by Allan Warren       

The Duke of Roxburghe died on 29th August. He was 64, a tragic victim of cancer. Guy Roxburghe was an impressive man in many ways and was given a substantial obituary in ‘The Scotsman’ and The Times. 

However, his achievements would not have been quite so prominently aired had he been plain Mr.

Who are the Scottish Dukes? How relevant are they in 2019?

The oldest and most senior is the Duke of Rothesay (a pleasant town on the Isle of Bute). The title was first given to David Stewart, son of Robert III of Scotland, in 1398. After David’s death it went to his brother, later King James I. Thereafter, the heir apparent to the Scottish Crown has held this dukedom and it is now the title used by HRH Prince Charles when in Scotland.

The other eight dukedoms, with dates of creation, are:

Duke of Hamilton, 1643 (Head of the Houses of Hamilton and Douglas).
Duke of Buccleuch, 1663 (Created for Anne Countess of Buccleuch, widow of the Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II. Chief of Clan Scott)
Duke of Lennox, 1675 (Created for Charles Lennox, illegitimate son of  Charles II)
Duke of Queensberry, 1684 (now held by the Dukes of Buccleuch)
Duke of Argyll, 1701 (Chief of Clan Campbell)
Duke of Atholl, 1703 (Chief of Clan Murray)
Duke of Montrose, 1707(support in the Act of Union, Chief of Clan Graham)
Duke of Roxburghe, 1707 (support in the Act of Union) 

Floors Castle by Kelso. Home of the Duke of Roxburghe.

If you strip out Lennox (lives in England), Atholl (lives in South Africa) and Queensberry (also Buccleuch), we are left with five dukes: Hamilton, Buccleuch, Argyll, Montrose and Roxburghe.

As a body these five are quite impressive: all of them big or massive landowners, four of them clan chiefs and one (Montrose) sits in the House of Lords. The Dukes of Hamilton and Argyll also have ceremonial roles; the latter Master of the Household of Scotland, the former Hereditary Bearer of the Crown of Scotland.

Perhaps more significantly, our dukes own four of the most significant furnished castles in Scotland. The Dukes of Buccleuch have both the magnificent Drumlanrig Castle and charming Bowhill House near Selkirk. The Duke of Argyll has Inveraray Castle (fascinating in its own right and also featured in Downton Abbey!) and the late Duke of Roxburghe was responsible for creating from his splendid home, Floors Castle, with its gardens and grounds, a fascinating and relaxed half day visit.

Inveraray Castle, Argyll, home of the Duke of Argyll.

Roxburgh Castle

It's difficult to imagine, as I walk by the River Teviot to ruinous Roxburgh Castle, that King David I (1124 - 1153) governed Scotland from here, that it saw royal marriages and births, and was one of the principal strongholds of Scotland, ceded to England (with Edinburgh and Stirling) after the capture of King William 'The Lion' in 1174.

It's a wet and windy January afternoon and it's also hard to imagine an iron cage hanging from these walls, a cage containing a king's sister. She was Mary, sister to Robert the Bruce, held here by the English, 'exposed to public view' from 1306 to 1310, then removed to a convent, (presumably to stop a valuable hostage from dying of exposure). She was released after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) in exchange for English noblemen.

Ah yes! Bannockburn. There's a happier story! Our last 'home win', 700 years ago on 23 and 24 June. And Roxburgh Castle was taken for the Scots by 'Good' Sir James Douglas earlier that same year by creeping up on it with sixty men disguised, they say, as cattle; though sadly we don't have the exact day to celebrate it. This left Stirling as the only Scottish Castle in English hands... fanfare and cue Bannockburn re-enactment later this year.

But returning to Roxburgh, this is what Andrew Spratt (and he's normally pretty good) thinks it looked like.

The two rivers join just below the illustration and the Teviot was partially diverted (top) to surround the castle with water (just like Caerlaverock on the Solway Firth and Old Inverlochy Castle at Fort William).

Roxburgh changed hands between Scots and English 13 times and was eventually destroyed by the Scots in 1460. But this was another bitter and uncertain time: our king, James II, had been killed standing by a canon, firing on English-held Roxburgh Castle from the grounds of Floors Castle across the Tweed.

The magnificent  building that now smiles benignly across the river is a modern structure (of 1721) but well worth a visit. And if you do go, look for the holly tree marking the spot where James II was killed by his favourite canon. And perhaps you will take time to wander up to the thought-provoking ruins of Roxburgh Castle.