Marquess of Huntly (traditionally spelled Marquis in Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Coileach Strath Bhalgaidh) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland that was created on 17 April 1599 for George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly. It is the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland, and the second-oldest in the British Isles; only the English marquessate of Winchester is older. The Marquess holds the following subsidiary titles: Lord Gordon of Strathaven and Glenlivet and Earl of Aboyne (1660; Peerage of Scotland), and Baron Meldrum, of Morven in the County of Aberdeen (1815; Peerage of the United Kingdom).
Early family history
The Gordon family descends from Sir Adam Gordon of Huntly, killed at the Battle of Humbleton Hill in 1402 and succeeded in his estates by his daughter Elizabeth Gordon, wife of Alexander Seton, who assumed the surname of Gordon for himself and "all his heirs male." He was created Earl of Huntly in the Peerage of Scotland in 1445 and was succeeded by his son, the second Earl, who served as Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1501. His younger son, the Hon. Adam Gordon, married Elizabeth, suo jure Countess of Sutherland. Their grandson, John Gordon, succeeded his grandmother in the earldom in 1535 (see Earl of Sutherland for further history about this branch of the family).
Lord Huntly's elder son, the third Earl, was a member of the Council of Regency in 1517. He was succeeded by his grandson, the fourth Earl, Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1546 to 1562, who was killed in the latter year, and in 1563 an Act of Attainder was passed through Parliament with all his titles forfeited. His eldest surviving son, George Gordon, was condemned to death for treason in 1563 but later pardoned. He obtained a reversal of his father's attainder in 1567 and served as Lord Chancellor of Scotland.
George Gordon, became the 1st Marquess, he was the son of the 5th earl; born in 1562, educated in France as a Roman Catholic. He was part of a plot to conspire against King James VI. He worked as captain of the guard of Holyrood before the discovery of treason. He went about clan feuds and started a private war, this inspired the ballad The Bonnie Earl O' Moray. He was succeeded by his son. Earl of Enzie and Marquess of Huntly in the Peerage of Scotland. His son was raised protestant in England; in the civil war he became a royalist and in 1647 was given a pardon for his actions, yet later beheaded. He was succeeded by his elder son, the second Marquess.
17th century onward
In 1632, four years before his father's death, the seventh Earl was created Viscount Aboyne in the Peerage of Scotland in his own right, with remainder that the title should be passed on to his second son the Hon. James Gordon on his death or on the death of his father, whichever came first.
When he died two years later the titles passed to his son, the third Marquess. In 1661 the attainder of 1649 was revoked by Act of Parliament. In 1684 Lord Huntly was created Lord Badenoch, Lochaber, Strathavon, Balmore, Auchindoun, Garthie and Kincardine, Viscount of Inverness, Earl of Huntly and Enzie and Duke of Gordon. All four titles were in the Peerage of Scotland. He was succeeded by his son, the second Duke. He was a supporter of the Old Pretender. Gordon married Lady Henrietta, daughter of Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough and 8th Baron Mordaunt. Their eldest son, the third Duke, sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish Representative Peer from 1747 to 1752. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the fourth Duke. Known as "Cock o' the North", he was a Scottish Representative Peer from 1767 to 1784 and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire and as Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. In 1784 he was created Baron Gordon of Huntley, in the County of Gloucester, and Earl of Norwich, in the County of Norfolk, in the Peerage of Great Britain. Gordon's great-grandfather, the first Duke, was the husband of Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Lord Henry Howard, who had been created Baron Howard of Castle Rising in 1669 and Earl of Norwich in 1672. The earldom of Norwich had become extinct on the death of the fourth Earl (also the ninth Duke of Norfolk) in 1777 and was now revived in Gordon's favour. In 1819 Gordon also inherited the barony of Mordaunt through his grandmother.