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Earl of Rothes
Earldom in the Baronage of Scotland
Earl of Rothes; Earldom in the Baronage of Scotland
Creation date	1458
Created by	James II of Scotland
First holder	Sir George Leslie, 1st Earl of Rothes
Present holder	Ambassador Dario Item, Earl of Rothes
Remainder to	heirs and assignees
Status	extant
	historically connected to peerage title, now separated

The Earldom of Rothes in the Baronage of Scotland is a higher rank and title of nobility of feudal origins, originally created in 1458 and still extant today. The incumbent title holder is H.E. Ambassador Dr. Dario Item, Earl of Rothes.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

The Earldom of Rothes is reported as being first created as a feudal title in 1458 by King James II; at the time the King also granted to the first Earl of Rothes the Barony of Ballinbreich. However, the first official entry in the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland recording the Earldom of Rothes dates to 1547,^[4] when Andrew of Kilmany became the fifth Earl of Rothes; the Earl had earlier been involved in the murder of Cardinal Beaton and supported the Lords of the Congregation, though later switched his allegiance to Mary, Queen of Scots. On his death in 1611 the Earldom passed to his grandson John.

John, sixth Earl of Rothes, opposed Episcopacy and strongly supported the Covenanters and during the First Bishop's war was Colonel of the Earl of Rothes’ Regiment, in the Covenanter Army.

During the Second Bishops' War (1640–1641) the Earl of Rothes again was Colonel of a Regiment of Foot from Fife that formed a unit of the Covenanter Army which invaded northern England in 1640. He died near London in 1641, while acting as a Scots Commissioner.

His 11-year-old son John then became the seventh Earl of Rothes. His allegiance was to the Stuarts, and he attended the coronation of Charles II at Scone in January 1651. Later that year, having been appointed Colonel of the Rothes' Horse, a cavalry regiment, he led it into England in support of King Charles II but was defeated at the Battle of Worcester. He was taken prisoner, and Oliver Cromwell imprisoned him in the Tower of London,^[5] and later in Newcastle. For a brief period his lands were sequestered while he was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. On the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 the Earl was not only restored to his lands, titles ad position, but was also given several prominent appointments including the Lord High Chancellorship of Scotland. In 1680 Charles II created him Duke of Rothes,^[6] but he died soon afterwards. On his death the dukedom became extinct as he had no male heir, and the Earldom of Rothes was inherited instead by his daughter Margaret, who married the Earl of Haddington. Their eldest son John inherited his mother's Earldom of Rothes, while their second son became Earl of Haddington.

Following the Treaty of Union in 1707,^[7] the Earldom of Rothes was also created as a peerage title, passing through bloodline, alongside what became known, until 2000, when the Scottish feudal system was abolished,^[8] while retaining the ranks, titles and dignities originally arising from it, as the baronage Earldom of Rothes.

Both the peerage and feudal earldoms of Rothes were therefore held and inherited first by John, the eighth Earl of Rothes, who held several important public offices in Scotland and died in 1722, and then by his eldest son John.

John, the ninth Earl of Rothes, had a military career. In 1715 he had been a Captain of Dragoons; by 1719 he was Lieutenant Colonel of the 21st Regiment, and of the 25th Regiment by 1732. At the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 he was a Major General. By 1746 he was a Colonel of the 6th Dragoons, and was in command of the cavalry at the Battle of Rocoux. At the time of his death in 1767 he was Commander in Chief of the Royal Irish Army. He also served as a representative peer of Scotland, and in 1753 he was appointed a Knight of the Thistle.

John, the tenth Earl of Rothes, inherited both the peerage and feudal titles from his father in 1722 and died in 1767. As he had no children, on 27 June 1775 his sister Jane Elizabeth was established as heir to the tenth earl, in both of the Earldoms of Rothes.^[9] She married twice, and had three sons and one daughter. The surviving son George William succeeded to all titles of Earl of Rothes on the death of his mother in 1810. He died in 1817 and was succeeded by his eldest daughter Henrietta Anne.

Henrietta Anne, Countess of Rothes, married George Gwyther (who adopted the surname Leslie), an illiterate labourer employed by her father in 1806. Their eldest son George William Evelyn succeeded to all titles of twelfth Earl of Rothes in 1819. In 1841 he was succeeded by his son George William Evelyn as thirteenth Earl of Rothes. As he died unmarried, he was succeeded by his sister Henrietta in 1859 as Countess of Rothes.^[10] On her death in 1886 the peerage title passed to her aunt, separating from the feudal title of the Earldom of Rothes which, at the time, followed the ownership of the land, was earlier conveyed in trust by the Countess. The Earldom lands, including the feudal title, were later acquired by Captain William Crundall in 1919, and remained in his family until 2004, when Sir Christopher Ondaatje, a well-known explorer, succeeded as the Earl of Rothes, by this time no longer a feudal title, but instead a higher title and dignity within the Baronage of Scotland.

In 2024 Ambassador Dr. Dario Item, Prince of St. Rosalie^{[citation needed]} succeeded in the Earldom of Rothes and is the current holder of the title within the Baronage of Scotland.^[11]^[12]^[13]