FASHIONABLE WEDDING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 142, 16 June 1906, Page 5

FASHIONABLE WEDDING.

MARQUIS OF GRAHAM AND LADY MARY HAMILTON. [PBJES3 ASSOCIATION.] LONDON, 15th June. King Edwaid attended the marriage of the Marquis" of Graham (heir of the Duke of Montrdse) to Lady Mary Hamilton at St. George's, Hanover-square. Five hundred wedding presents were received, including a china bowl from Queen Ena of Spain, to the bride. King Edward's gift* consisted of a diamond , necklace and pendant. The marriage reported above means tho union of two of the great historic houses of Scotland. The Marquis of Graham is the eldest son of the present Duke and Duchess of Montrose, and (though he is only 28 years of age) his life has been one of cuTious and varied experience, botih by 88a and by land. The family to which he belongs goes back to the time of David 1., King of the Scots, for the name appears as that of a witness to v charter granted by that) valiant monarch to the monks of Holyrood House in 1128, and eleven years later it was attached to . a similar charter to the Priory of Dunham Since that! time the Grahams have taken prominent part in many historical episodes, both in Scotland and in England. One of them, Sir David, a man remarkable for patriotism and valour, was among the Scottish leaders employed to negotiate the ransom of David 11., who was made prisoner by the English at the battlo of Durham in 1346. The family were first elevated to the peerage in 1445, when a barony was, conferred on Patrick Graham, on his becoming one of the Lords of the Regency during the minority of James 11., and aftter two generations this barony was raked to an earldom in consideration of the gallantry the third LoTd Graham exhibited at the battle of Sauchieburn, where his King was killed. In 1612 a marquisate was conferred on the family, the first marquis being one of tho most brilliant soldiers Scotland has ever produced. He won many victories for his Royal master, Charles 1., but was ultimately defeated at Philiphaugh, taken prisoner, and executed with brutal indignity in Edinburgh. It was not until 1705 tihnt another step in the peerage was given to the fourth marquis, who had rendered conspicuous service to the State. As eldest eon of the present Duke of Montrose, Lord Graham is tiho heir to an ancient and famous house, ns well as to the dukedom and B&lates of the family. Lady Mary Hamilton (or as she now i« the Marchioness of Graham) is tho only child and heiress of tho late William Alexander Louis Stephen, twelfth Duke of Hamilton and ninth Duke of Brandon, premier peer of Scotland and Knight Mareschal, as well au Due dv Chatellerault in the peerage of France. All the British titles — and their number is many — were strictly entailed male fiefs, and at the death of his grace, eleven years ago, they passed to a distant cousin, the present Dtuko, though Lady Mary appears tk> have retained, in addition to - the unentailed estates in the United Kingdom left to her by her father, tho French dukedom, which dates back tlu 1648. The Marchioness is consequently the owner of the Island of Arran in the /Clyde— indeed, die is sttyied the Lady of Arran in feudal style— as well ns of the Eaoton Park estate in Suffolk. The Arran property is of special interest, because ib came to the Hamilton family by the marriage of Princess Mary Stuart, eldest daughter of James 11. of Scotland, with the first Lord Hamilton.