was the second son of James II., king of Scotland, by his
wife, Mary, daughter of Arnold, duke of Gelderland. Created
duke of Albany before 1458, he also received the lordship of
the Isle of Man, and was afterwards captured by an English
ship when journeying to Gelderland in 1468. He was soon
released, and as he grew to manhood began to take part in
the government and defence of Scotland, being appointed in
quick succession high admiral, warden of the marches, governor
of Berwick and lieutenant of the kingdom. Soon, however,
he quarrelled with his brother, King James III. Some of his
actions on the marches aroused suspicion, and in 1479 he
was seized and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle; but he soon
made his escape, and reaching Paris in September 1479 was
welcomed by King Louis XI. Louis, however, would not assist
him to attack his brother the king, and crossing to England
he made a treaty with King Edward IV. at Fotheringhay in June
1482. Like Edward Baliol, he promised to hold Scotland under
English suzerainty in return for Edward's assistance, and
with Richard, duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard
III., he marched at the head of the English forces to
Edinburgh. Meanwhile his supporters in Scotland had seized
James, and professed their readiness to recognize Albany,
declaring at the same time their distrust of Gloucester. A
compromise, however, was arranged, and the restoration of his
lands and offices was promised to Albany, who in turn agreed
to be faithful to James; but about the same time the duke with
remarkable duplicity had sworn he would keep the treaty with
Edward. Again he was appointed lieutenant of the kingdom,
a truce was made with the English, and James, released from
custody, restored his brother and created him earl of Mar and
Garioch. The fraternal peace was soon disturbed. Failing
to obtain possession of the king's person, Albany renewed
negotiations with Edward, and in February 1483 made a new treaty
at Westminster on the lines of that of Fotheringhay. A fresh
reconciliation followed between the brothers, but in July 1483,
during Albany's absence in England, he was sentenced to death for
treason. After making a raid on Lochmaben he went to France,
where in 1485 he was accidentally killed. Albany's first
wife was Catherine, daughter of William, third earl of Orkney
and first earl of Caithness, who bore him three sons and a
daughter. This marriage was dissolved in 1478, and as its
issue was regarded as illegitimate the title of duke of Albany
descended to John (see below), his only son by his second
wife, Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne. daughter of Bertrand II.,
count of Auvergne and of Bouillon, whom he married in 1480.
III. JOHN STEWART, duke of Albany (c. 1481-1536), regent
Of Scotland, was born about 1481. He was brought up in
France, where he owned large estates, and held the office of
admiral of France. In 1515, at the request of the Scottish
parliament, and in spite of Henry VIII.'s efforts to prevent
him, Albany came to Scotland, was inaugurated regent in July,
and proceeded to organize resistance to the influence of England
and of Margaret Tudor, the queen dowager, sister of Henry
VIII. In August he seized the latter and her children at
Stirling, and subsequently was occupied in suppressing the
rebellion of the Homes, Angus (the second husband of Margaret),
and James Hamilton, earl of Arran; Alexander, third Lord
Home, being beheaded in October 1516. Albany was declared
on the 12th of November heir to the throne, and on the 6th
of June 1517 he returned to France. In August he concluded
the treaty of Rouen, by which the alliance between France
and Scotland was renewed and a daughter of Francis I. was
to marry James V., and next year he obtained the relaxation
of certain dues on Scottish imports into France. Meanwhile
Margaret had returned immediately on Albany's departure, and
disorders had broken out owing to the rivalry between Angus and
Arran. Francis I. had secretly engaged himself to Henry
VIII. not to allow Albany's departure from France, but he
returned at the close of 1521 and immediately became the
object of Henry VIII.'s and Wolsey's attacks. He reconciled
himself temporarily with Margaret, supported her divorce from
Angus, and was now accused by the English government, in all
probability unjustly, of having seduced her and of harbouring
schemes of marrying her himself, together with designs against
the life of the young king. These accusations were repudiated
by the Scots, and Henry's demand for the regent's dismissal
refused. War broke out in 1522, and in September Albany
advanced to within four miles of Carlisle with a large
army. The Scots, however, showed unwillingness to fight
outside their own frontiers, and Albany agreed to a truce
and disbanded his troops. On the 25th of October he departed
hastily to France, leaving the borders exposed to the
enemy. On the 25th of September 1523 he once more landed
in Scotland, bringing with him supplies from France and a
considerable body of troops, and on the 3rd of November, after
an unsuccessful attack on Wark, retreated hastily, and quitted
Scotland finally on the 20th of May 1524. On the 30th of July
his regency was terminated by the declaration of James V. as
king. He accompanied Francis I. in his disastrous Italian
campaign of 1525, being detached to make a diversion in
Naples against the Spanish. Between 1530 and 1535 he acted as
French ambassador in Rome, conducted Catherine de' Medici, his
wife's niece, to Paris on her marriage to Henry (afterwards
Henry II.) in 1534, and negotiated the marriage of James V.
The regent Albany was a singularly unfortunate commander in
the field, but a successful ruler and administrator, and the
Scottish court of session owed to him its institution. But he
regarded himself more the subject of the king of France than
of the king of Scotland, subordinated the interests of the
latter state to the former, and disliked his official duties
in Scotland, where the benefits of his administration were
largely diminished by his want of perseverance and frequent
absence. He appears to have been a man of honourable and
straightforward conduct, whose character must be cleared from
the aspersions of Wolsey and the English authorities. He
married his cousin Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, but left no
legal issue, and all his honours became extinct at his death.
IV. LEOPOLD GEORGE DUNCAN ALBERT, duke of Albany, eighth
child and youngest son of Queen Victoria, was born on the 7th
of April 1853. The delicacy of his health seemed to mark him
out for a life of retirement, and as he grew older he evinced
much of the love of knowledge, the capacity for study and
the interest in philanthropic and ecclesiastical movements
which had characterized his father, the prince consort. He
matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in November 1872, living
with his tutor at Wykeham House, St Giles's, and diligently
pursued his favourite studies of science, art and the modern
languages. In 1876 he left the university with the honorary
degree of D.C.L., and resided at Boyton House, Wiltshire,
and afterwards at Claremont. On coming of age in 1874, he
had been made a privy councillor and granted an annuity of
L. 15,000. He travelled on the continent, and in 1880 visited
the United States and Canada. He was a trustee of the British
Museum, a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and continued to take
an active part in the promotion of education and knowledge
generally. Like his father and other members of his family
he was an excellent public speaker. On the 24th of May 1881
he was created duke of Albany, earl of Clarence and Baron
Arklow. On the 27th of April 1882 he married Helene
Frederica Augusta, princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont, and his income
was raised by parliament to L. 25,000. Having gone to the
south of France for his health in the spring of 1884, he was
attacked by a fit, the cause or the consequence of a fall
in a club-house at Cannes, on the 27th of March, and died
very unexpectedly on the following morning. His death was
universally regretted, from the gentleness and graciousness
of his character, and the desire and ability he had shown
to promote intellectual interests of every kind. He left a
daughter, born in February 1883, and a posthumous son, Arthur
Charles Edward, born on the 19th of July 1884, who succeeded
to the dukedom of Albany, and who on the 30th of July
1900 became duke of Saxe-Coburg on the death of his uncle.
ALBANY, LOUISE MAXIMILIENNE CAROLINE, COUNTESS OF
(1752-1824), eldest daughter of Prince Gustavus Adolphus of
Stolberg-Gedern, was born at Mons on the 20th of September
1752. In her youth she was a canoness of Ste. Wandru at Mons,
but in her twentieth year she was affianced, at the instigation
of the duke of Berwick and with the secret connivance of the
French Court, to Prince Charles Edward Stuart, ``the Young
Pretender,'' self-styled count of Albany. She was wedded
to the prince at Macerata, near Ancona, on Good Friday 1774,
and the married pair for over two years resided in the old
Stuart palace at Rome. Pretty, intelligent, charming and
witty, Louise fascinated Roman society, wherein she gained
the nickname of ``Queen of Hearts.'' The union, however, which
was obviously intended to give an heir to the Stuart prince,
proved childless, and Louise's married life became far from
happy. In 1774 the pair moved to Florence, where in December
1780 Louise, terrified at her husband's violence and fearing
for the safety of her life, fled to a neighbouring convent
and threw herself on the protection of her brother-in-law,
Henry Stuart, Cardinal York, who invited her to Rome. Louise
had already in Florence formed the acquaintance of the great
Italian tragic poet, Vittorio Alfieri, who had been captivated
by her engaging manners, her youthful beauty and her literary
powers. The poet now followed her to Rome, but the friendship
between Alfieri and his sister-in-law does not seem to have
aroused any suspicion in the mind of Cardinal York until
1783, when, after a visit to his brother in Florence, he
suddenly requested Pope Pius VI. to banish Alfieri from papal
territory. In 1784, however, a legal separation between the
count and countess of Albany was arranged, and by Charles's
death in 1788 Louise found herself freed from matrimonial
bonds. In company with Alfieri (to whom rumour said she
had been secretly married) she now visited Paris and London,
and was cordially received at the English court, George
III. granting her an annual pension of L. 1600 from the privy
purse. Returning to Italy, Alfieri and the countess settled
at Florence, where the poet died on the 9th of October
1803, and was buried in the church of Santa Croce beneath
Canova's vast monument erected at Louise's expense. The
countess continued to reside in the house on the Lung'
Arno at Florence, patronising men of science and letters
and holding nightly receptions, at which all visitors were
expected to treat their hostess with the etiquette due to
reigning royalty. She died on the 29th of January 1824 and
was buried in Santa Croce, where in the south transept a
marble monument by Giovannozzi and Santarelli commemorates
her. By her will the countess bequeathed all her property,
including many historic objects of art and documents, to the
companion of her old age, the French painter, Francois Xavier
Fabre, who ultimately gave the greater part of his legacy to
the museum of his native town of Montpellier. Two excellent
portraits of the countess of Albany and of Alfieri, painted
