Boyd, Robert, Lord

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Boyd, Robert, Lord [S] (d. c.1482). Created Lord Boyd (1452), he took a minor role in government until orchestrating his family's seizure of the young James III at Linlithgow (July 1466). He was subsequently politically ruthless, excluding his brother Alexander from power, and appointing himself governor of the persons of the king and his brothers (October 1466). He pursued a policy of self-aggrandizement, elevating his son to the earldom of Arran, and marrying him to Mary, the king's sister, a deeply unpopular action (1467). He successfully arranged the treaty of Copenhagen (1468), by which the king married Margaret of Denmark, and the Scottish crown eventually gained possession of Orkney and Shetland. However, the Boyd faction's hold on power remained tenuous, and they were ousted while Boyd was in England (1469). Forfeited by Parliament (1469), Boyd fled to Bruges and later England (1471), following a failed attempt to return to Scotland.

Roland Tanner