TITLE ROMANCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 March 1929, Page 9

TITLE ROMANCE

500-YEAR OLD CLAIM REVIVED DOCUMENT IN VATICAN The claim of Sir Bruce Gordon Seton to call himself Lord Gordon —a claim which was lodged over three years ago, is to be argued before the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords. Sir Bruce’s claim rests on incidents of Scottish history of almost 500 years ago. The search has extended to the Vatican Library at Rome, where the late Dr. Walter Seton, younger brother to Sir Bruce, discovered an important document. This was a copy of a Papal Bull declaring that the marriage between Alexander Seton and Egidia Hay in the fifteenth century was legal and binding. This is the starting point of the claim. . Alexander Seton became Lord Gordon. At the age of 17 he had married Egidia Hay, an heiress. They had one son, also named Alexander, from whom Sir Bruce Gordon-Seton claims to be descended. Then Alexander the elder wished to marry someone else, and claimed that the first marriage had been irregular, as his wife was a blood relation. The Bishop of Moray gave him a decree of divorce, and Lord Gordon in 1438 married Elizabeth Crichton, whose' father was Lord Crichton, Chancellor of Scotland. In 1444 Setoir was made Earl of Huntly. At his death the estates of his first wife went to his son, Alexander Seton. His title went to his second son, George, the first child of Elizabeth Crichton. On an appeal to the King of Scotland a charter was granted, ordering that the earldom should pass to the descendants of the second marriage. B'or nearly 450 years the Earls of Huntly were accepted as the Lords Gordon. Then the Vatican document came to light.