Clan Scott - Dangerous Liaisons Scotland's Clans


Clan Scott - Dangerous Liaisons

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On the night of 13 July 1685,

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Anna Scott, the Duchess of Buccleuch,

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was ushered through these gates to the Tower of London.

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Anna knew as she hurried into the Tower that the Scott family's future hung in the balance.

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Just days earlier, she had been on the verge of being crowned Queen of England and Scotland,

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but now, the family were tainted with treason.

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Whether they survived, or lost everything, rested on her shoulders.

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In this series, I'm going on a personal journey to reveal

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the extraordinary stories behind the great clan names of history.

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One of the most fascinating of all is that of the Scott family

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whose influence would extend from their home in the Borders to the very heart of the Royal Court.

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And who ultimately owe their success to two remarkable women.

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Today, the Scotts of Buccleuch are one of the greatest landowners in Britain

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with hundreds of thousands of acres of land and estates,

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four major castles

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and a vast art collection which is one of the finest in the world.

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It may be hard to believe amongst all this wealth and grandeur,

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but the Scotts weren't always quite so respectable.

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For centuries, the borderlands between England and Scotland

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were a lawless war zone

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where riding clans like the Scotts launched horseback raids,

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lifting cattle and property from their neighbours.

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Raiding was very much a way of life in this part of the country in the 16th century.

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And there are countless examples of the Scotts taking part in attacks on both sides of the border.

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But in 1596, the head of the Scott family, known as the Bold Buccleuch,

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launched a raid on an English stronghold here in Carlisle

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which would cause a diplomatic crisis

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and, as a result, transform the fortunes of the Scotts of Buccleuch.

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The English, of course, had started it all.

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Their underhand tactics during a truce had led to the capture of one of Buccleuch's men, Kinmont Willie.

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Now, the imprisonment of this notorious, cross-border raider,

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or reiver as they were known, led to a storm of protest in Scotland.

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Kinmont Willie was held here at Carlisle Castle.

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A stark and impregnable fortress.

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But the Bold Buccleuch was determined to make a point and show

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the English that if they could seize men illegally, then so could he.

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In an incredibly daring move, Buccleuch stormed Carlisle Castle and freed Kinmont Willie.

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Now, this prison breakout turned the Bold Buccleuch

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into a local hero, but not everyone was so impressed.

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Especially the Queen of England.

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Elizabeth I was enraged by Buccleuch's raid and was quick

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to communicate her fury to James VI, King of Scotland.

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James was hoping to be named as Elizabeth's successor, but now,

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thanks to Buccleuch's raid, it looked as if the furious Queen might change her mind.

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Storming their way into Carlisle Castle, springing a prisoner,

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it's an attack on the authority of the English Crown,

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it's an act of military aggression, really.

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It begins a process of a spiralling out of control.

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There was genuine fears that it might actually

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have resulted in outright warfare between Scotland and England.

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'Buccleuch took shelter from the diplomatic storm he'd unleashed here at Branxholme Tower -

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'his home in the Borders - where I've come to meet historian, Anna Groundwater.'

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Anna, the whole thing seems to be coming quite a dangerous international incident?

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Well, Elizabeth is absolutely furious.

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It was an affront to her honour and she wasn't going to back down

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until some recognition of that had been made.

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And James seems to have been in quite an awkward position

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because his honour's been affronted, yet he needs Elizabeth and she's pulling the strings.

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Yes, Elizabeth had two holds over him.

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Firstly, she hadn't yet confirmed who the succession would be to her throne

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and he was quite desperate to get that confirmation.

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And secondly, and perhaps more importantly at this moment,

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she controls his pension and he's desperately in need of it.

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And he held out for at least 18 months, but I think really in the end,

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the combination of the succession question plus just he needed the cash

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meant that in October '97

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he basically ordered Buccleuch to surrender himself to the English.

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Buccleuch was sent south to the Royal Court

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to deliver an apology in person to the Queen.

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What happens when Buccleuch eventually arrives in London?

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He was summoned before Elizabeth and she asked him,

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"How is it that you dare such an act so presumptuous, so desperate?"

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And he turns to her and he says, "What is it that a man dare not do?"

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And she said, "Well, with 10,000 such men as these, my brother, Scotland,

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"might shake the firmest throne in Europe".

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So, in a sense, he, she was bowled over by the Bold Buccleuch.

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She was very much bowled over. He wasn't a courtly person.

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He was very upfront, but he certainly charmed Elizabeth.

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So instead of being sent home with a flea in his ear, he goes home with a feather in his cap.

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He certainly does. He returns to Scotland and James' complete approval

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and he really establishes, I think, the basis for the future fortunes of the Buccleuch family.

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The Bold Buccleuch's audacity had won the Scotts the royal seal of approval.

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In the following decades, the position as Crown favourites

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allowed the Scotts to buy up vast swathes of land in the Borders.

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By the time the Bold Buccleuch's grandson, Francis Scott, became the Second Earl of Buccleuch,

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the family had put their raiding days firmly behind them

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and become very much part of the establishment.

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The Scotts were now one of the wealthiest families in the land.

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And left behind their rough and ready home on Branxholme Tower

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for a more refined residence in Dalkeith.

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But no matter how much land and money the family possessed,

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to survive and to prosper,

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they still had to deliver one vital thing - a male heir.

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But tragically, Francis Scott's only son died aged just one-year-old.

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And a year later, Francis himself died leaving two young daughters.

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Potentially, this had dire implications for the Scotts.

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Without a male heir, there would be no-one to carry the family name on.

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And it seemed inevitable that the vast Buccleuch estates

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would be swallowed up and the two young girls

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married into other families.

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The daughter will obviously get married, that entire estate goes with her on her marriage to a new family.

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And your own family's heritage really disappears.

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Females led to splitting of estates.

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Males preserved the succession.

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That's really the difficulty if you have only daughters.

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Throughout history, many great families and even royal dynasties,

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had died out because of the failure to produce a male heir.

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But the story of the Scott family would be very different.

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Before he died, Francis Scott drew up a shrewd legal document

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to guarantee the future of the Scott family.

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Not only did he take the extraordinary step

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of giving his daughters the same rights of inheritance as male heirs, he also made it a legal requirement

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that whoever married either one of them would have to take on the Scott name.

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Francis Scott had ensured the survival of his family name,

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but he could do nothing to stop his young daughters becoming the prey of greedy and ambitious nobles.

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Wherever these little girls go,

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their wealth is going to go with them

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and whomever they marry,

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it will make that person enormously, enormously wealthy.

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The richest men in the land, the most powerful men in the land,

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they want them and they want control of them.

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The man who would emerge as the most determined of all to get control of the Scott heiresses was their uncle,

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the wealthy and powerful Earl of Tweeddale.

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He is very much cast as the wicked uncle and he does seem to be doing

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his absolute utmost to get control of the girls.

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He becomes enormously desirous of getting a hold of one of those little girls

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to marry his son so that money can come back into his family

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where he believes it actually should sit.

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The Earl set his sights on the young and vulnerable Mary,

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who, at the tender age of four, had become the head of the Scott family and one very desirable heiress.

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But standing between Mary's fortune and her uncle

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was a woman determined to stay in control of the Buccleuch estates.

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Mary's mother, the formidable Margaret Leslie.

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Margaret Leslie is a cunning, determined woman

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and she has occasionally, I think, been painted as a rather sort of grasping woman

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that she's trying to ensure that she retains control over her daughters.

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But, I think, wouldn't any mother try and do that?

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Margaret hates the Earl of Tweeddale.

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There's a massive rivalry between them.

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She absolutely wants to ensure that he doesn't get his hands on little Mary.

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On 9 February 1659,

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aged just 11-years-old, Mary Scott walked down the aisle to be married.

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But it was not the wedding that everyone expected.

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It had been hastily arranged and there were no guests.

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In fact, hardly anyone knew that the wedding was even taking place.

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I'm meeting historian Kathy Callaghan

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to find out about the cloak-and-dagger marriage

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that Margaret Leslie had masterminded

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to ensure that she, and no-one else, kept control of the Scott fortune.

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But Kathy, can you explain how Margaret Leslie

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was able to get this marriage off the ground so successfully and so secretly?

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Certainly, she was a very cunning woman

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and she worked very diligently to plan in the background

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without letting people know - very secretly.

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She worked to make sure the people around her were people that she could control.

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And there would have been grounds to oppose this marriage, presumably?

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Oh, absolutely. First of all, Mary's age.

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She was clearly under-age, not yet reached the legal age of 12.

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Also, there was the fact that the bridegroom

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was not someone who brought anything to the marriage.

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He had nothing. He was impoverished.

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He was beneath her, in other words.

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Margaret had struck a deal with a lower-status family.

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The Scotts of Highchester who were more than willing to allow her to call the shots.

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But when news broke that Mary had married aged just 11

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people were scandalised, especially the Earl of Tweeddale

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who was furious that Mary and the Scott fortune had slipped through his fingers.

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He wanted his son to marry Mary.

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He wanted the control of the Buccleuch money

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and so, as a consequence, he begins to launch investigations

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including "I'm going to the church and filing a protest"

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so that the challenges began almost after the "I do's".

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As Mary had married below the legal age of 12,

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the Earl of Tweeddale tried to have her wedding declared unlawful.

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Mary now became the central character in a world of murky intrigue and political manoeuvring.

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But after a bitter legal struggle,

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Margaret Leslie was triumphant and Mary's marriage was recognised as legitimate.

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It was soon clear, however, that this was a hollow victory.

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In the Spring of 1661, aged just 13,

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Mary lay dying at the Scott family home in Dalkeith.

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It seems that she probably had bone cancer in her arm.

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Her mother spared no expense

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in trying to make sure that Mary survived this.

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She spent thousands and thousands of pounds in an effort to make life better for her daughter,

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but, unfortunately for Mary, the cancer won.

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On 12 March 1661, Mary Scott died.

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Her 10-year-old sister Anna was now the new Countess of Buccleuch.

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And the Earl of Tweeddale had a second chance to try and secure the Scott fortune

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by forcing through a marriage between his son and Anna.

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But incredibly, once again, Margaret Leslie pulled a move

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which would leave even the shrewdest political operator standing.

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Here in The National Archives of Scotland

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is remarkable evidence of Margaret's audacity.

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This time, she decided to change tactics.

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In fact, she aimed much, much higher.

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She wrote to the King.

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This is a letter written by Charles II.

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Now, he's written this in response to a letter he'd received from Margaret Leslie,

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in which she'd offered her daughter, Anna, as a potential bride

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to his illegitimate son, James.

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Now, Charles is very quick to respond.

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He seems delighted at the possibility of this marriage going ahead.

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He says to Margaret, "I am very sensible of the affection which you showed to me in the offer

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"you make concerning the Countess of Buccleuch".

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Now, that's Anna. "Which I do accept most willingly".

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The news of Anna's engagement to the King's favourite, albeit illegitimate, son

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sent shockwaves through Scottish society.

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The Scotts had gone from reivers to royalty in three generations.

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No-one can believe Margaret was smart enough to do this.

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Here was this woman operating behind the scenes with this great plan that she apparently hatched on her own

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and, as a consequence, people were dumbfounded.

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And now she is answerable only to the King.

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In the Spring of 1663, Anna and her mother arrived in London.

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Anna's husband to be was James Croft, born after the King's affair with his mistress, Lucy Walters.

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Crucially, although he was illegitimate,

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Charles had acknowledged James and had made it very clear that he was his favourite child.

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The young couple were married in the King's private chambers

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in the building behind me here at Whitehall.

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It was the wedding of the season and was even mentioned by Samuel Pepys in his famous diary.

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Now, following tradition,

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the young couple were seen to bed by the wedding party,

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but they were quickly separated on account of their ages.

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James was just 14 and Anna merely 12 years of age.

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The young and inexperienced Scottish heiress was thrust into

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the glamorous and racy world of Charles II's Court.

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In celebration of the marriage, the King showered the couple with gifts and honours.

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He made James Duke of Monmouth.

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And Anna became a Duchess.

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The young couple enjoyed all the trappings of royal privilege.

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The King lavished the pair with gifts.

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They have beautiful houses, they have jewels, they have servants, they have carriages.

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They are the envy of the Court.

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I've come to meet historian, Richard Oram to get an insight into Anna and the man she'd married.

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This must be Anna Scott.

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-Yes.

-How old do you think she is there?

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Probably in her early 30s. She had her first son when she was 21.

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What kind of woman do you think she was?

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We first come across her, she's very much a controlled and manipulated individual.

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She's pushed forward, put into a marriage really by her mother's design.

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So this is not a marriage of love and romance.

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-This is a strategic marriage, a marriage of convenience.

-Yes.

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And this is the greatest marriage that they could have hoped for.

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You're bringing together the greatest heiress in Scotland

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with the King's favourite illegitimate child.

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James has been built up and built up by his father,

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showered with offices, showered with titles, great marriage arranged

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and Anne is brought into the royal family, effectively, through this marriage.

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Yeah, this lady is the nearest there is to a princess in waiting.

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Their children,

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as children of the acknowledged royal bastard, have royal blood,

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so prince and princess by default.

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And she is beginning to emerge as a self-confident woman in the glittering Royal Court.

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To all accounts, Anna was a rather wonderful character.

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Different diarists talk about her

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and they all talk in terms of prudence and sagacity.

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A woman of wit and intelligence.

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Being daughter-in-law to the King certainly had its advantages,

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but Anna soon realised her marriage was no fairytale.

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Monmouth was a 17th century playboy.

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He knew how to have a good time

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and no-one was going to stop him from having a good time.

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Monmouth begins to be serially unfaithful to her.

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He's constantly choosing mistresses.

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Spending, of course, he has huge amounts of money

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to lavish presents on any pretty girl who might catch his eye.

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She spends the first few years really having to come to terms with the fact that

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the dashing young Duke of Monmouth is a philanderer,

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a scoundrel, a rogue,

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a conspirator and not an altogether pleasant individual.

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But Monmouth's most dangerous quality was his ambition.

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His greed for power would bring Anna within a heartbeat of becoming Queen.

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But also place her and the Scott family on the brink of complete ruin.

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Charles indulged James, Duke of Monmouth, so much over his life that

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I think James felt that anything he wanted he was going to get.

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And as a consequence, when his father died, he believed that he should have the throne.

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But the fact remained that Monmouth was illegitimate.

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So when Charles II died in 1685, he was succeeded by his brother, James.

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Scotland and England, both Protestant countries,

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now had a Catholic on the throne -

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a situation that not only caused much unrest across the country,

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but further fuelled Monmouth's ambition.

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He became increasingly obsessed with the idea that he, and not his Uncle James, was the rightful heir.

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And with his Protestant faith as a selling point,

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he became the focus for those determined to overthrow the Catholic King.

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In May 1685, Monmouth and his supporters launched a rebellion to overthrow James.

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Monmouth declared himself to be the rightful monarch and was crowned King by his followers.

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His actions would have enormous significance for Anna and her family.

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The Scotts were on the verge of becoming the new royal dynasty.

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In the event of Monmouth's rebellion actually working in 1685,

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and the Coronation that he pronounced

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when he was in Taunton, that he had become King,

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Anna would of course become his Queen.

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But Anna was under no illusions.

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She realised the folly of Monmouth's actions and the potential danger to her and her family.

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OK, if it succeeded she would have been Queen.

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But she sees it as ruinously dangerous because if this misfires, you're talking about

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the fall of the family of Scott and she sees what Monmouth's doing as basically a recipe for disaster.

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In the end, Monmouth's rebellion failed to secure the support he'd hoped for.

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He stood little chance of success and after just one battle, he and his followers were defeated.

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Monmouth was captured and sent here to the Tower of London.

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With a husband now in prison for treason, the fortunes of Anna Scott and her family hung in the balance.

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This is treason, where the penalties are forfeiture and execution.

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The loss potentially of life and limb, but certainly of all their landed property and possessions.

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So you're looking at utter ruination.

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This could spell disaster for Anna. She could lose everything.

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Her children, her fortune, her power, her prestige and her life.

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Anna's life was unravelling before her eyes.

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The King sent her children to the tower to ensure that they could not

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be used as pawns in any further rebellion.

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With Anna's husband facing almost certain death and her children imprisoned,

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the Scotts were on the brink of losing everything that generations of the family had built up.

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The marriage that had elevated them from wealthy landowners to royalty

0:23:040:23:09

had become an albatross around their neck.

0:23:090:23:13

Anna's only hope was to prove that she was not involved in the ill-fated plot.

0:23:160:23:21

Just days before Monmouth was due to be executed,

0:23:210:23:25

Anna made a desperate trip to the Tower of London to try and save her family from ruin.

0:23:250:23:30

And it's here that I'm meeting historian Kate Williams to find out why this was such a crucial visit.

0:23:300:23:38

That night in the tower was the most important night of Anna's life.

0:23:380:23:42

She had to get Monmouth to say that she had nothing to do with the conspiracy. It was utterly vital.

0:23:420:23:48

So she was really desperate?

0:23:480:23:50

Everything was riding on this.

0:23:500:23:52

Her future, her children's future, her family's future. He was going to be executed and she would be tainted.

0:23:520:23:57

She would be seen as a traitor's wife and their children, worst of all, would be traitor's children.

0:23:570:24:03

They would have traitor's blood and they would not be allowed to inherit the estates.

0:24:030:24:07

Anna persuaded one of the King's most important officials,

0:24:090:24:12

the Lord Privy Seal, to come with her to witness Monmouth's statement.

0:24:120:24:17

But with death staring him in the face, her husband had little interest in Anna's plight.

0:24:190:24:25

Monmouth is exhausted, he's terrified of dying.

0:24:250:24:28

And she says to him, "Tell him we had nothing to do with it".

0:24:280:24:32

He kinds of says, "Well, you know, you were always a dutiful wife

0:24:320:24:35

"and you told me to be dutiful to the King".

0:24:350:24:37

And that's all she can get out of him.

0:24:370:24:40

Monmouth's grudging acknowledgment of Anna's innocence

0:24:400:24:43

was communicated to the King.

0:24:430:24:45

While she and her family's future was still to be decided,

0:24:450:24:51

Monmouth's fate was already sealed.

0:24:510:24:54

On 15 July 1685, Monmouth left the Tower of London to meet his death.

0:24:570:25:03

Now, not many executions went terribly smoothly in those days,

0:25:030:25:07

but Monmouth's must go down in history

0:25:070:25:09

as one of the most botched ever.

0:25:090:25:11

It's claimed it took up to eight blows of the axe to sever his head

0:25:110:25:17

and make Anna Scott a widow.

0:25:170:25:18

It was not, however, the end of Anna's ordeal.

0:25:180:25:22

A few weeks later, her daughter aged 10, who was still being held in the tower, died.

0:25:220:25:28

This was surely the lowest point in Anna Scott's life.

0:25:310:25:34

She'd lost her home, her husband and her position.

0:25:340:25:38

But Anna would use all her skills of diplomacy and charm to regain her status.

0:25:380:25:45

In May of the following year, the King made his decision.

0:25:480:25:52

In his words,

0:25:520:25:54

Anna's exemplary loyalty, unblamable deportment and constant duty

0:25:540:26:00

meant she should be allowed to keep all of the Scott estates and remain the Duchess of Buccleuch.

0:26:000:26:07

Anna's desperate trip to the tower had paid off.

0:26:070:26:11

Somehow, she manages to claw her way back to a position of respect,

0:26:160:26:20

get her titles back, get the credibility back

0:26:200:26:24

and essentially she gets her status back.

0:26:240:26:25

I mean, this is amazing.

0:26:250:26:27

She's a survivor.

0:26:270:26:29

She recognises how power is made and how to hang on to it.

0:26:290:26:34

In 1701, Anna came back to Scotland.

0:26:360:26:40

Aged 50, she was returning for the first time to Dalkeith - the family home

0:26:400:26:46

she'd left when she was just a child.

0:26:460:26:49

And she returned determined to build on the wealth and power that she'd fought so hard to protect.

0:26:490:26:56

To get a personal insight into the extraordinary life of Anna Scott,

0:26:580:27:02

I've come to Drumlanrig Castle to meet her direct descendent, the current Duke of Buccleuch.

0:27:020:27:08

She was a remarkable woman, was she not, Duchess Anna?

0:27:080:27:12

Yes, I think Anna was absolutely pivotal to the happy

0:27:120:27:15

outcome at least from the Scotts of Buccleuch's points of view.

0:27:150:27:18

And it was because of her

0:27:180:27:21

that the disaster which her husband brought not only on himself

0:27:210:27:24

but many other innocent people did not lead to the downfall of the House of Buccleuch.

0:27:240:27:29

Amazingly, Anna Scott lived for more than 40 years after her husband's failed rebellion.

0:27:290:27:36

And it's largely thanks to her that today the Scotts of Buccleuch

0:27:360:27:40

are the largest private landowners in Scotland.

0:27:400:27:43

I can't but look at portraits of her

0:27:430:27:48

and see in her the person who really, after all the reiving and everything else that had gone in the past,

0:27:480:27:55

she was in many ways the one who really laid the foundations for the future.

0:27:550:28:00

Anna died in 1732 just before her 81st birthday.

0:28:010:28:06

For me, what makes her life so unique is that at a time

0:28:060:28:11

when men still very much called the shots,

0:28:110:28:14

she was clearly a single-minded, determined and shrewd woman

0:28:140:28:17

who deserves her place in history.

0:28:170:28:20

Despite her royal connections and vast fortune,

0:28:220:28:26

Anna Scott chose to be buried here in Dalkeith.

0:28:260:28:29

Instead of an imposing mausoleum,

0:28:290:28:31

this unassuming churchyard of St Nicholas

0:28:310:28:34

is the final resting place of the woman who so very nearly became Queen.

0:28:340:28:40

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