Jane Douglas

Lady Jane Douglas (17 March 1698 – 21 November 1753) was a Scottish noblewoman. She married secretly and had twins abroad at the age of fifty who would inherit the family's riches. This birth was thought incredible and the ensuing long and expensive court case was fought in three countries and it was settled in her favour by the House of Lords in 1769, over 15 years after her death. Life Lady Jane Douglas was the daughter of James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas and the only sibling of Archibald Douglas, third marquess and first duke of Douglas. Her maternal grandfather was Robert Kerr, first marquess of Lothian. When she was 22 the Duchess of Queensberry thwarted the plan for her to marry Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch, by marrying him, coincidentally, to another Lady Jane Douglas who was the daughter of James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry and the duchess's sister-in-law. Despite several earls and dukes wanting to be suitors this Jane Douglas refused their proposals. She was able to live due to the support of her brother, and possibly to spite him, she started a romance with the penniless Colonel John Stewart of Grantully, but broke off the courtship having previously said that she had an 'aversion' to the married state. After a decade she wrote to him, saying she would admit their friendship publicly if he wanted to visit her again and she and the Colonel were married in 1746 at Drumsheugh without the knowledge of her brother.