Evening star., 1923-06-20
Heir to Three British Dukedoms
Here to Meet u. S. Amateur Boxers

, jury sustained in diving off his ship.
and which left him an invalid for a
number of years. Indeed. 1t was gen.
orally believed that he would never
wed. A considerable sensation was.
therefore, created when, in 1901, some
six or seven years after his success
sion to the dukedom. he contracted
matrimonial alliance with Miss Nina
Poore, who has borne him no less
than seven children. three girls and
four boys. all of them sturdy and
strong, and showing no signs what
soever of their father having been re-
garded for time as Well-nlgh
hopeless invalid.
He has the blood of the royal house
of Scotland in his veins. for his an
cestor George Douglas married Prin-
cess Mary of Scotland, daughter OF
King Robert ILL., The duke has played
a very unobtrusive and inconspicu-
Gus role in the public life of the
United Kingdom, in spite of his many
dignities and hereditary Offices, the
latter including the mastership or
the royal household in Scotland. In
fact. the only time that ! can recall
his coming before the people in any
way as WHcI, JbdIH d6o, hc ucNA'hSA
to permit the vaccination of any OF
his children on what was stated to
be conscientious grounds. So strong
were the pleas and arguments which
he put forward in the matter that the
authorities ended by granting him an
exemption.
1t is only within the last few
months that the duke has acquired
the positive assurance of the validity
of his succession to the family hon
ors. nearly a quarter Of a century
ago. The late and twelfth Duke of
Hamilton had younger brother,
of the name of Lord Charles
Hamilton. who used to go by the
name Of Carlo" figures in the
| diaries of Marie Bashkirtseff and died
in 1856 at Nice. after a most wild
and stormy existence. He finally
succumbed to consumption, nursed TO
| the last with the utmost tenderness
and affection by his Russian wife. OF
whom no mention is made in the
| pages of "Burke's Peerage." Lady
!, Charles was the widow OF Gen. Count
| Paskievitch, chamberlain to Alexan-
| der III. Carlo Hamilton eloped with
I
! had the misfortune to kill the count.
| The tragedy naturally was sufficient
| to render the position of Lady Charles
very difficult in England So the cou-
! pie made their home in France. divid
| ing their time between Paris. Biar-
| ritz and Nice.
xx
Eleven years after Carlo Hamil-
toms death and entombment in the
wonderful family mausoleum in La
| larkshire. and two years after the
demise of the late and twelfth duke
/ man until then known as Charles
Gum turned up at Pretoria, in South
Africa. and put forward in the form
! of an affidavit claim to the duke
/ dom of Hamilton and to all the prop
! erty left in trust for the benefit OF
the same. on the ground that he was
| really the twelfth dukes only
| brother. Lord Charles Hamilton, who
was supposed to have died at Nice
/ in 1886. He insisted that he had lef,
/ England after fighting duel and
that. in order to escape the legal
consequences. his death had beer
! formally announced and a sham fu-
neral organized. the coffin supposed
| to contain his remains and which
! had been deposited In the family
/, mausoleum having been filled with
! sand. Some years later another man
! putting forth similar pretensions
: turned up at Vienna under the name
of Lord Charles Hamilton. where. al
! the instance of the late Princess Tas-
! silo Festecics. only sister of the real
Lord Hamilton. he was arrested as
an imposter by the police and expell-
| ed from Austrian territory, not be-
! fore being identified as a cashiereG
| fellow officer of Lord Charles in the
| ilth Hussars. Subsequently bogus
! Lord Charles Hamiltons turned ur
! from time to time in Scandinavia. III
/ Russia and at least two of the west
| ern states of America. Indeed, it was
! only last fall. when the family
| mausoleum had to be demolished ir
| order to save il from the collapse
| rendered inevitable by the mining
| operations carried on beneath its sur.
| face and the tombs of the twelve
| Dukes Of Hamilton and the member:
| of their families preserved there haC
1 to be opened for removal to the GENE
| terry prepared for the occupancy. thai
the casket containing the remains OF
| Lord Charles Hamilton was opened
| and the corpse therein officially iden.
titled. thus putting an end to the
| legend that his burial had been &
bogus one.