Lord Adam Gordon and the Count D'Artois

Category

Library Item

Item no

13532

Title

Right Honourable Lord Adam Gordon and His Royal Highness the Count D'Artois, afterwards Charles X

Description

Lord Adam Gordon and the Count D'Artois standing side by side in formal military uniforms.

Both figures wear distinctive bicorn hats and are dressed in elaborate military coats. The figure on the left wears a uniform with prominent horizontal braiding or frogging across the chest, along with what appears to be a sash and sword belt. The figure on the right wears a coat decorated with a large emblem on the chest. Both men are wearing knee breeches, long boots, and carrying staffs. They have on powdered wigs.

Artist / maker

Kay, John

Date

1796

Size

18.5 x 10.5 cm

Type

Etching

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The accompanying text in the volume states as follows:
The most memorable occurrence during LORD ADAN'S command in Scotland was the arrival of his Royal Highness the Count d'Artois, in 1796.

"June 6.—This afternoon, about two o'clock, his Royal Highness Monsieur Compte d'Artois, etc., landed at Leith from on board his Majesty's frigate Jason, Captain C. Stirling. On the frigate's coming to anchor in the Roads, his Royal Highness was saluted with twenty-one guns from Leith Fort, and with the like number on his landing at Leith, where he was received from the boat by Lord Adam Gordon and a part of his suite, and conducted in his lordship's carriage to an apartment in the Palace of Holyrood, fitted up in haste for his reception; and, as he entered the Palace, his Royal Highness was saluted with twenty-one guns from the Castle. The Windsor Foresters and Hopetoun Fencibles were in readiness to line his approach to the Palace; but his Royal Highness choosing to land in a private manner, and with as little ceremony as possible, that was dispensed with. The noblemen in his Royal Highness's suite followed in carriages provided for the purpose, and were conducted from the outer gate of the Palace by the Commander-in-Chief to their apartments."

"Next day his Royal Highness Le Compte d'Artois held a levee at his apartments in Holyrood House, at which his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Dalkeith, Lord Adam Gordon, and all the officers of the Hopetoun Fencibles, and of the Staff in North Britain, attended, and were presented; as also the Sheriff Depute of Mid-Lothian and several other gentlemen. His Royal Highness, it is understood, means to see company every Monday and Thursday."1 The royal suite remained for several years at Holyrood House, during which period the Count frequently visited London, from whence, it is said, he directed the operations of the Chouans in Bretagne. He also visited Sweden in 1804, and again returned to Britain in 1806.

CHARLES PHILIP COUNT D'ARTOIS, brother of Louis XVI., was born in 1757. " At the beginning of the Revolution he declared against its principles, and was one of the most zealous defenders of the royal prerogatives." At length a price having been set on his head by the Convention, he was under the necessity of withdrawing himself from France; and, from 1789 till 1794, continued a wanderer among various continental courts. Towards the end of the last-mentioned year the British Government granted him an allowance, when he embarked for Britain. Previous to the Revolution, which proved so destructive to his family, the Count is described to have been " the most gay, gaudy, fluttering, accomplished, luxurious, and expensive Prince in Europe." He married Maria Theresa, daughter of the King of Sardinia, in 1773, by whom he had two sons,— the eldest of whom, the Due d'Angouleme, accompanied him in his exile, and arrived at Holyrood House a few days after his father. The life of the Count d'Artois has been very much chequered. On the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in 1815, his elder brother, the Count de Provence, ascended the throne of France as Louis XVIII., and on his death the Count succeeded to the crown under the title of Charles X.; but the well-known recent events of the " Glorious Three Days" again drove him and his family into exile. In 1830 he once more took up his residence at Holyrood, where he resided with the Duc and Duchess d'Angouleme, and his grandson the Duc de Bourdeaux, till 1833, when he retired to Gratz, a town of Illyria in the Austrian dominions. There he died of inflammation in the bowels, November 6, 1836, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

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Clothing and dress > Accessories > Hats

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Sash

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Staffs

Clothing and dress > Garments > Breeches

Clothing and dress > Garments > Coats

Clothing and dress > Garments > Uniforms

People > Politics and government > Lords

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