KEITH, GEORGE [SSNE 1535]
- Surname
- KEITH
- First name
- GEORGE
- Title/rank
- EARL MARISCHAL
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- ABERDEEN
- Social status
- NOBILITY
- Education
- UNIVERSITY
Text source
George Keith, Earl Marischal (1553?- and 1623), was the son of William Lord Keith and Lady Elizabeth Hay, daughter of the Sixth Earl of Errol. George studied at Aberdeen and Geneva and was made a Privy Councillor in 1582. However, he was deprived of his seat on the Coucil because of absence 1599, though was re-elected in 1601. Keith was made Lieutenant in the North, and was founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen in 1593. He led the Scottish embassy to Denmark in 1589 and married Princess Anna [SSNE 4731] as proxy for James VI [SSNE 1531]. Keith stayed in Denmark during winter 1589-90, and accompanied James VI to see Tycho Brahe at Uraniborg along with Chancellor Maitland [SSNE 1550]. Keith promised to send seeds to Gert Rantzau, regional governor of Kronborg, who had asked also for three Irish dogs and for the description of Queen Anna's entry into Edinburgh. He advised Danish envoys to Scotland in 1593 as to the best way to proceed with the Scottish government. Keith was asked by Christian IV [SSNE 5356] in 1604 to intervene with a resident of Peterhead on behalf of a shipowner and customs official of Copenhagen. George Kieth married Margaret, daughter of Alexander, Fifth Lord Home and with her had the children William, Anne and Margaret. With his second wife Margaret, daughter of James, Sixth Lord Ogilvy of Airlie he had sons James and John.
T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), pp.64-65.
Service record
- SCOTLAND, DENMARK-NORWAY
- Arrived 1589-01-01
- Departed 1590-12-31
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY