| When the Duke
of Douglas named his nephew, Archibald Stewart, his successor, young
Archibald was pulled out of great poverty to great wealth in a very short
period of time. He also found himself embroiled in a prolonged lawsuit
with the Douglas-Hamiltons which called into question the legitimacy of
his birth.
Archibald did come into this world under suspicious circumstances. At
the time of his birth his mother, Lady Jane Douglas, was 50 years of age.
At that point in history it was quite unusual for a woman of 50 to give
birth, much less to twins. She had not married until quite late in life
and when she did so it was only for the stated reason of giving an heir to
the House of Douglas.
She and her husband, Sir John Stewart, moved to Aix-la-Chapelle, France
soon after their marriage and there Lady Jane found herself to be
pregnant. It would be assumed that a woman of such advanced years,
pregnant for the first time, would take great care and settle down in
comfort to await the birth. Lady Jane, however, abruptly moved from
Aix-la-Chapelle to Paris in the eighth month of her pregnancy accompanied
only by her husband and a maid. Supposedly this was to place her under the
care of the best doctors in France. In the end the doctor who delivered
the babies could never be found nor could the woman who was purported to
have owned the house in which the births took place.
Even though twins were reported in letters, the couple returned to
Rheims in July, 1748 with only one infant. When questioned about the other
baby it was said he was left in the care of the doctor. It wasn't until
November, 1749 that the couple, again in the company of the same maid,
returned to Paris to retrieve their son.
Interestingly, it was later found that there had been two kidnappings
in Paris in that period of time, one in July, 1748 and another in
November, 1749. Witnesses claimed, in both cases, that the baby boys were
carried off by a Lady, a Gentleman and their maid. This was enough to
convince the court, albeit in a very close decision, to award the Douglas
properties to the Duke of Hamilton. Archibald appealed to the British
House of Peers who overturned the court's decision on the basis of the
deed drawn up by the late Duke
of Douglas and awarded Archibald the Douglas estates. The marquessate,
however, stayed with the Duke of Hamilton. Archibald took the name of
Douglas and married the daughter of the Duke of Montrose.
In 1796 he received the title Lord Douglas from King George III.
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