Earl of Arran (Scotland)

The earldom of Arran currently exists in two forms within the Scottish nobility, in reference to the Isle of Arran. One is a peerage title in the Peerage of Scotland, held as a subsidiary title by the Duke of Hamilton.

The other is a baronage title in the Baronage of Scotland attached to the Lochranza Castle, which was auctioned off in the 1990s along with the ruins of the Castle. It is currently held by Susan Clark Livingston, Countess of Arran.^[1][2]

The earldom in the Peerage of Scotland was created on 26 April 1467 for Thomas Boyd and his new wife, the 14-year-old Princess Mary Stewart, daughter of the late James II of Scotland. Boyd's father, Robert, Lord Boyd, was a regent for Princess Mary's younger brother, the teenaged King James III, who was kept at Edinburgh Castle under the governorship of Boyd's brother Sir Alexander Boyd. The "unscrupulous" Lord Boyd, along with his "hapless" brother, arranged the marriage to the King's elder sister without consulting the King. As part of Princess Mary's dowry, Thomas Boyd was given the Isle of Arran and its earldom, Baronies of Stewarton and Kilmarnock, and extensive lands in Ayrshire, Carrick, the Great Cumbrae, Roxburgh, Forfar, and Perthshire.^[3] Four royal charters were simultaneously created covering the grants to Thomas Boyd. ^[4] They lived at Kilmarnock Castle and its newly built palace, and their joined arms, Boyd impaling the Royal Arms of Scotland, was carved into the wall.^[5]

However, the marriage was wildly unpopular, as the Isle of Arran was coveted royal land, and the King considered it unforgivable. Robert Boyd, Thomas Boyd, and Sir Alexander Boyd were attainted for treason in 1469 for abducting the King, and their titles and lands were forfeited. They fled to Denmark but Princess Mary, though reportedly very attached to her husband, returned to Scotland, where she presumably sought a pardon from her brother. Thomas Boyd was summoned to Scotland but failed to appear within 60 days.^[4] The marriage was formally annulled by the Pope Sixtus IV in April 1474.^[6] Robert Boyd died shortly afterward and Princess Mary was forced to marry James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton.^[7]

In 1482, the lands attainted from Thomas Boyd were restored to James Hamilton, 2nd Lord Hamilton, the only son of Princess Mary and the 1st Lord Hamilton. His son, James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran, succeeded his father in 1529. He was Regent of Scotland between 1542–54, and guardian of the young Mary, Queen of Scots. However, he was declared insane in 1562, and he resigned the title to Captain James Stewart under pressure from James VI. However, in 1586 his resignation was ruled by the Court of Session to be the act of a madman and his honours were restored.

In 1609, the title passed to James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton, when he inherited the earldom. Then in 1643, the 3rd Marquess of Hamilton was made Duke of Hamilton and received a second grant of the earldom of Arran. This created two separate creations of the earldom of Arran within the Hamilton family.

When the 2nd Duke of Hamilton died, the 1503 creation of the earldom became dormant, as it was left unclaimed. Meanwhile, the 1643 creation of the earldom continued to descend with the Dukedom of Hamilton, and the two titles remain united to this day.

The baronage earldom of Arran supposedly originated during feudal times, with its caput at Lochranza Castle, which dates to the 13th century.^[8] However, a feudal title, like much of the early history of Arran, is not recorded. For centuries, the Isle of Arran belonged to island chiefs the Lord of the Isles until it was claimed by the King of Scotland, and eventually erected into a title of nobility in the Peerage of Scotland in the late 15th century.^[9]

In 1994, Lady Jean Fforde (granddaughter of the 12th Duke of Hamilton), who was the 20th Countess of Arran, disponed the feudal earldom together with the ruins of Lochranza Castle in order to pay for central heating for her island cottage. She had been forced to surrender the family seat, Brodick Castle, to the National Trust of Scotland in lieu of death duties in 1960.^[10][11]

In December 1994, the title and land were auctioned through the Manorial Society of Great Britain for a reputed £410,000 to millionaire businessman John de Bruyne.^[12] The sale fell through, however.^[13] In 1995, when Swiss businessman Willi Ernst Sturzenegger purchased Lochranza Castle, acquiring the associated feudal lands that had been sold outside the Hamilton family, this transfer of property also included disposition of the baronage earldom. According to Scots property law, this resulted in the succession of the baronage title passing to Sturzenegger, establishing its line of succession down to the present day.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, Sturzenegger petitioned the Lord Lyon King of Arms, seeking official recognition as "Willi Ernst Sturzenegger of Arran, Earl of Arran in the territorial baronage of Scotland". He also requested a grant of arms reflecting his claimed title as "Earl of Arran in the territorial baronage of Scotland". Sturzenegger based his petition on his assertion that he owned "the Lands and Earldom of Arran in the County of Bute including inter alia the Castle of Lochranza the caput thereof". Feudal tenure was formally abolished in Scotland with the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, which went into force in 2004.^[8] In 2006, Sturzenegger repetitioned the Lyon Court, this time seeking official recognition as "Willi Ernst Sturzenegger of Arran, Feudal Earl of Arran" along with the appropriate heraldic additaments to represent this title. In his 2009 ruling, Lord Lyon David Sellar denied this second petition from Sturzenegger.^[8]

In 2015, the new Lord Lyon Joseph Morrow reversed the decision in a similiar petition concerning the feudal lordship of Garioch, writing, "in Scotland anyone is at liberty to call themselves what they wish subject to it not being the intention to deceive another person."^[14]

The arms of the baronage earldom of Arran are the same as the arms of the Lord of the Isles (also used in other Scottish arms including Earl of Caithness, the Duke of Argyll, and the Duke of Rothesay): Argent, a lymphad with the sails furled proper flagged gules. These are quartered today with the arms of Hamilton (Gules, three cinquefoils ermine) by the Duke of Hamilton.^[15]

• Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran (died c. 1472) (forfeit 1469)

• James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran (c. 1475–1529)
• James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran (1515–1575)
• James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (1533/1538–1609) (under attainder 1579–1585 on account of insanity)
• James Hamilton, 4th Earl of Arran (1589–1625) (had already succeeded as 2nd Marquess of Hamilton)

See Duke of Hamilton for further succession.

• Lady Jean Fforde, 20th Countess of Arran (died 2017) (dispone 1994)
• Willi Ernst Sturzenegger, 21st Earl of Arran (1995–2023)
• Susan Clark Livingston, 22nd Countess of Arran (2023–present)