William Alexander Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and 8th Duke of Brandon (19 February 1811 – 8 July 1863) styled Earl of Angus and Arran before 1819 and Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale between 1819 and 1852, was a Scottish nobleman and the Premier Peer of Scotland.
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Biography
Hamilton was the son of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Susan Euphemia Beckford, daughter of English novelist William Beckford. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Knight Marischal of Scotland from 1846 and Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire from 1852 until his death.
At the Mannheim Palace, on 23 February 1843, he married Princess Marie Amelie of Baden, daughter of the Grand Duke Charles of Baden and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, the adopted daughter of Napoleon I. After his marriage, he lived chiefly in Paris and Baden, taking very little interest in British affairs. They had three surviving children:
Unnamed son (stillborn 7 February 1844), at Holyrood Palace
William Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton (1845–1895), also succeeded as 8th Earl of Selkirk in 1886
Lt. Lord Charles George Hamilton (1847–1886), 11th Hussars, succeeded by special remainder as 7th Earl of Selkirk in 1885, died unmarried
Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton (1850–1922), married firstly Albert I, Prince of Monaco, latterly to Prince Tassilo Festetics de Tolna
Though he had married in 1843, the duke did not succeed to his title until 1852. In that year, he purchased the house located at 22 Arlington Street in St. James's, a district of the City of Westminster in central London from Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort for £60,000 (equivalent to £7,242,000 in 2025). The duke lavished expenses on the house for approximately a decade, including installing iron firebacks with his coronet and motto. Upon his death, the house passed to his widow who sold it to Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne via auction in 1867.
Legacy
He was a close friend of the French Empress Eugenie. According to Lady Helena Gleichen, they accidentally caused a scandal at the French Court when courtiers were told that Lord Hamilton would not be joining them for the hunt because of an injury and the Empress said: "Yes, I saw the bruise on his leg. It is very bad." This shocked the French court and later, the Empress had Lord Hamilton come down to show everyone that Scottish lords wore kilts, and thus, their legs were visible to everyone.