List of Scottish monarchs


The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin, who founded the state in 843. The distinction between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of the Picts is rather the product of later medieval myth and confusion from a change in nomenclature i.e. Rex Pictorum becomes Rí Alban under Donald II when annals switched from Latin to vernacular around the end of the 9th century, by which time the word Alba in Scottish Gaelic had come to refer to the Kingdom of the Picts rather than Great Britain.
The Kingdom of the Picts just became known as Kingdom of Alba in Scottish Gaelic, which later became known in Scots and English as Scotland; the terms are retained in both languages to this day. By the late 11th century at the very latest, Scottish kings were using the term rex Scottorum, or King of Scots, to refer to themselves in Latin. The Kingdom of Scotland was merged with the Kingdom of England to form a single Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Thus Queen Anne became the last monarch of the ancient kingdoms of Scotland and England and the first of Great Britain, although the kingdoms had shared a monarch since 1603. Her uncle Charles II was the last monarch to be crowned in Scotland, at Scone in 1651. He had a second coronation in England ten years later.

Heraldry


List of monarchs of Scotland

House of Alpin (848–1034)

The reign of Kenneth MacAlpin begins what is often called the House of Alpin, an entirely modern concept. The descendants of Kenneth MacAlpin were divided into two branches; the crown would alternate between the two, the death of a king from one branch often hastened by war or assassination by a pretender from the other. Malcolm II was the last king of the House of Alpin; in his reign, he successfully crushed all opposition to him and, having no sons, was able to pass the crown to his daughter's son, Duncan I, who inaugurated the House of Dunkeld.
Modern English name


Reign
EpithetTitleDynastic status
Kenneth I MacAlpin

843/848 – 13 February 858
An Ferbasach,
"The Conqueror"
Rex Pictorum
son of Alpin king of Dál Riata
Donald I

858 – 13 April 862
Rex Pictorum
son of Alpin king of Dál Riata, and brother of Kenneth I
Constantine I

862–877
An Finn-Shoichleach,
"The Wine-Bountiful"
Rex Pictorum
Son of Kenneth I
Áed

877–878
Rex Pictorum
Son of Kenneth I
Giric

878–889
Mac Rath,
"Son of Fortune"
Rex Pictorum
Son of Donald I?
Eochaid
878–889?*
Rex Pictorum
grandson of Kenneth I*
Donald II

889–900
Dásachtach,
"the Madman"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Constantine I
Constantine II

900–943
An Midhaise,
"the Middle Aged"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Áed
Malcolm I

An Bodhbhdercc,
"the Dangerous Red"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Donald II
Indulf
An Ionsaighthigh,
"the Aggressor"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Constantine II
Dub / Dubh or Duff


962–967
Dén,
"the Vehement"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Malcolm I
Cuilén

967–971
An Fionn,
"the White"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Indulf
Amlaíb

973–977¤
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Indulf
Kenneth II

971–995
An Fionnghalach,
"the Fratricide"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Malcolm I
Constantine III

995–997
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Cuilén
Kenneth III

997 – 25 March 1005
An Donn,
"the Chief"/ "the Brown"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Dub
Malcolm II

1005–1034
Forranach,
"the Destroyer"
Rí Alban
Rì nan Albannaich
Son of Kenneth II

*Eochiad was a son of Run, King of Strathclyde, but his mother was a daughter of Kenneth I. Evidence of his reign is unclear. He may have never actually been king and if he was, he was co-king with Giric.
¤Amlaíb is known only by a reference to his death in 977, which reports him as King of Alba; since Kenneth II is known to have still been King in 972–973, Amlaíb must have taken power between 973 and 977.

House of Dunkeld (1034–1286)

Duncan succeeded to the throne as the maternal grandson of Malcolm II. He was also the heir-general of Malcolm I, as his paternal grandfather, Duncan of Atholl was the third son of Malcolm I. The House of Dunkeld was therefore closely related to the House of Alpin. Duncan was killed in battle by Macbeth, who had a long and relatively successful reign. In a series of battles between 1057 and 1058, Duncan's son Malcolm III defeated and killed Macbeth and Macbeth's stepson and heir Lulach, claiming the throne. The dynastic feuds did not end there: on Malcolm III's death in battle, his brother Donald III, known as "Bán", claimed the throne, expelling Malcolm III's sons from Scotland. A civil war in the family ensued, with Donald III and Malcolm III's son Edmund opposed by Malcolm III's English-backed sons, led first by Duncan II and then by Edgar. Edgar triumphed, sending his uncle and brother to monasteries. After the reign of David I, the Scottish throne was passed according to rules of primogeniture, moving from father to son, or where not possible, brother to brother.
Modern English name


Reign
EpithetTitleMarriageDynastic Status
Duncan I


1034–1040
An t-Ilgarach
"the Diseased"
or "the Sick"
Rí AlbanSuthen
at least two sons
Grandson of Malcolm II
Macbeth


1040–1057
Rí Deircc
"the Red King"
Rí AlbanGruoch of Scotland
no children
Son of Mormaer Findláech
Lulach


1057–1058
Tairbith
"the Unfortunate"
-
Fatuus
"the Foolish"
Rí AlbanUnknown
two children
Son of Gille Coemgáin, Mormaer of Moray and Gruoch of Scotland
Step-son of Macbeth
Malcolm III


1058–1093
? Cenn Mór
"Great Chief"
Rí Alban / Scottorum basileusIngibiorg Finnsdottir
three sons
Margaret of Wessex
1070
eight children
Son of Duncan I
Donald III


1093–1097
Bán,
"the Fair"
Rí AlbanUnknown
at least one daughter
Son of Duncan I
Duncan II


1094
Rí Alban / Rex ScottorumUchtreda of Northumbria
one son
Son of Malcolm III
Edgar


1097–1107
Probus,
"the Valiant"
Rí Alban / Rex Scottorum-Son of Malcolm III
Alexander I


1107–1124
"the Fierce"Rí Alban / Rex ScottorumSybilla of Normandy
no children
Son of Malcolm III
David I


1124–1153
"the Saint"Rí Alban / Rex ScottorumMaud, Countess of Huntingdon
1113
four children
Son of Malcolm III
Malcolm IV


1153–1165
Virgo
"the Maiden"
-
Cenn Mór,
"Great Chief"
Rí Alban / Rex Scottorum-Grandson of David I
William I


1165–1214
"the Lion"
-
Garbh,
"the Rough"
Rí Alban / Rex ScottorumErmengarde de Beaumont
Woodstock Palace, Oxford, England
5 September 1186
four children
Grandson of David I
Alexander II


1214–1249
Rí Alban / Rex ScottorumJoan of England
York Minster, England
21 June 1221
no children
Marie de Coucy
Roxburgh
15 May 1239
one son
Son of William I
Alexander III


1249–1286
Rí Alban / Rex ScottorumMargaret of England
York Minster, England
25 December 1251
three children
Yolande de Dreux
Jedburgh Abbey
15 October 1285
no children
Son of Alexander II

House of Sverre (1286–1290)

The status of Margaret, Maid of Norway, as a Scottish monarch is debated by historians. One of her biographers, Archie Duncan, argues that because she was "never inaugurated, she was never queen of Scots". Another, Norman H. Reid, insists that Margaret was "accepted as queen" by her contemporaries but that, owing to the lack of Inauguration, " reign never started".
NameBirthDeathDynastic status
Margaret
the Maid of Norway
1286-1290
c. April 1283
Tønsberg, Norway
daughter of Eric II of Norway and Margaret of Scotland
September/October 1290
St Margaret's Hope, Orkney
aged 7
granddaughter of Alexander III

First Interregnum (1290–1292)

Monarchy of Scotland restored

House of Balliol (1292–1296)

The death of Margaret of Norway began a two-year interregnum in Scotland caused by a succession crisis. With her death, the descent of William I became extinct and there was no obvious heir. Thirteen candidates presented themselves; the most prominent were John Balliol, great-grandson of William I's younger brother David of Huntingdon, and Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, David of Huntingdon's grandson. The Scottish magnates invited Edward I of England to arbitrate the claims. He did so but forced the Scots to swear allegiance to him as overlord. Eventually, it was decided that John Balliol should become king. He proved weak and incapable and, in 1296, was forced to abdicate by Edward I who then attempted to annex Scotland into the Kingdom of England.
NamePortraitBirthMarriageDeathDynastic status
John Balliol
Toom Tabard
1292-1296
c. 1249Isabella de Warenne
9 February 1281
at least one son

c. 25 November 1314
Picardy, France
great-grandson of David of Huntingdon

Second Interregnum (1296–1306)

Monarchy of Scotland restored (second time)

House of Bruce (1306–1371)

For ten years, Scotland had no king. The Scots, however, refused to tolerate English rule. First William Wallace and then John Comyn III and finally Robert the Bruce fought against the English. Bruce and his supporters had murdered their rival to the throne of Scotland, John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch on 10 February 1306 at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries. Shortly after in 1306, Robert was crowned King of Scots at Scone. Robert Bruce was then hunted down for his crime of murder, and subsequently, he escaped to the outskirt islands, leaving the country completely leaderless, and the English invaded once again. Bruce would return a year later and gain support for his cause. His energy, and the corresponding replacement of the vigorous Edward I with his weaker son Edward II in 1307, allowed Scotland to free itself from English rule. At the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scots routed the English, and by 1328 the English had agreed by treaty to accept Scottish independence. Robert's son, David, acceded to the throne as a child. The English renewed their war with Scotland, and David was forced to flee the kingdom by Edward Balliol, son of King John, who managed to get himself crowned and to give away Scotland's southern counties to England before being driven out again. David spent much of his life in exile, first in freedom with his ally, France, and then in prison in England. He was only able to return to Scotland in 1357. Upon his death, childless, in 1371, the House of Bruce came to an end.
NamePortraitBirthMarriageDeathDynastic status
Robert I
the Bruce
1306-1329
11 July 1274
Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire
son of Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick
Isabella of Mar
1295
one daughter
Elizabeth de Burgh
Writtle, Essex, England
1302
four children
7 June 1329
Manor of Cardross, Dunbartonshire
aged 54
great-great-grandson of David of Huntingdon
David II
1329-1371
5 March 1324
Dunfermline Palace, Fife
son of Robert I and Elizabeth de Burgh
Joan of England
Berwick-upon-Tweed
17 July 1328
no children
Margaret Drummond
Inchmurdach, Fife
20 February 1364
no children
22 February 1371
Edinburgh Castle
aged 46
son of Robert I

----
Disputed claimant

House of Balliol (1332–1356)

Edward Balliol was the son of King John Balliol, who had himself ruled for four years following his election in the Great Cause. Following his abdication, John Balliol lived out his life in obscurity in Picardy, France. During the minority of David II, Edward Balliol seized the opportunity to assert his claim to the throne, and backed by the English, he defeated the forces of David's regency and was himself crowned king at Scone in 1332. He was quickly defeated by loyalist forces and sent back to England. With English support, he would mount two more attempts to seize the throne again, in 1333 and 1335, each time his actual control of the throne was brief before being sent back to England, for the last time in 1336. When David returned from exile in 1341 to rule in his own right, Edward lost most of his support. When David II was captured in battle in 1346, Edward made one last attempt to seize the throne for himself but had little support and the campaign fizzled before it gained much traction. In 1356 he renounced all claims to the throne.
NamePortraitBirthMarriageDeathClaim
Edward Balliol
1332-1356
In opposition to David II
1283
Son of John Balliol and Isabella de Warenne
-1367
Doncaster, Yorkshire, England
aged 83-84
Son of John Balliol, candidate of the English to replace the exiled David II

House of Stewart/Stuart (1371–1651)

Robert the Stewart was a grandson of Robert I by the latter's daughter, Marjorie. Having been born in 1316, he was older than his uncle, David II. Consequently, he was at his accession a middle-aged man, already 55, and unable to reign vigorously, a problem also faced by his son Robert III, who also ascended in middle age at 53 in 1390, and suffered lasting damage in a horse-riding accident. These two were followed by a series of regencies, caused by the youth of the succeeding five boy kings. Consequently, the Stewart era saw periods of royal inertia, during which the nobles usurped power from the crown, followed by periods of personal rule by the monarch, during which he or she would attempt to address the issues created by their minority and the long-term effects of previous reigns. Governing Scotland became increasingly difficult, as the powerful nobility became increasingly intractable. James I's attempts to curb the disorder of the realm ended in his assassination. James III was killed in a civil war between himself and the nobility, led by his son. When James IV, who had governed sternly and suppressed the aristocrats, died in the Battle of Flodden, his wife Margaret Tudor, who had been nominated regent for their young son James V, was unseated by noble feuding, and James V's wife, Mary of Guise, succeeded in ruling Scotland during the regency for her young daughter Mary I only by dividing and conquering the noble factions, distributing French bribes with a liberal hand. Finally, Mary I, the daughter of James V, found herself unable to govern Scotland faced with the surliness of the aristocracy and the intransigence of the population, who favored Calvinism and disapproved of her Catholicism. She was forced to abdicate, and fled to England, where she was imprisoned in various castles and manor houses for eighteen years and finally executed for treason against the English queen Elizabeth I. Upon her abdication, her son, fathered by Henry, Lord Darnley, a junior member of the Stewart family, became King as James VI.
James VI became King of England and Ireland as James I in 1603 when his cousin Elizabeth I died. Thereafter, although the two crowns of England and Scotland remained separate, the monarchy was based chiefly in England. Charles I, James's son, found himself faced with the Civil War. The resultant conflict lasted eight years and ended in his execution. The English Parliament then decreed their monarchy to be at an end. The Scots Parliament, after some deliberation, broke their links with England and declared that Charles II, son, and heir of Charles I, would become King. He ruled until 1651 when the armies of Oliver Cromwell occupied Scotland and drove him into exile.
NamePortraitBirthMarriageDeathDynastic status
Robert II
the Stewart
1371-1390
2 March 1316
Paisley, Renfrewshire
son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland and Marjorie Bruce
Elizabeth Mure
1336
1349
ten children
Euphemia de Ross
2 May 1355
four children
19 April 1390
Dundonald Castle, Ayrshire
aged 74
grandson of Robert I
Robert III
the Lame King
1390-1406
c. 1337
Scone Palace, Perth
son of Robert II and Elizabeth Mure
Anabella Drummond
1367
seven children
4 April 1406
Rothesay Castle
aged about 69
son of Robert II
James I
1406-1437
late July 1394
Dunfermline Palace, Fife
son of Robert III and Anabella Drummond
Joan Beaufort
Southwark Cathedral
2 February 1424
eight children
21 February 1437
Blackfriars, Perth
aged about 42
son of Robert III
James II
Fiery Face
1437-1460
16 October 1430
Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh
son of James I and Joan Beaufort
Mary of Guelders
Holyrood Abbey
3 July 1449
seven children
3 August 1460
Roxburgh Castle
aged 29
son of James I
James III
1460-1488
10 July 1451
Stirling Castle or St Andrews Castle
son of James II and Mary of Guelders
Margaret of Denmark
Holyrood Abbey
13 July 1469
three children
11 June 1488
Sauchie Burn
aged 36
son of James II
James IV
1488-1513
17 March 1473
Stirling Castle
son of James III and Margaret of Denmark
Margaret Tudor
Holyrood Abbey
8 August 1503
six children
9 September 1513
Flodden Field, Northumberland, England
aged 40
son of James III
James V
1513-1542
15 April 1512
Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian
son of James IV and Margaret Tudor
Madeleine of Valois
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France
1 January 1537
no children
Mary of Guise
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France
18 May 1538
three children
14 December 1542
Falkland Palace, Fife
aged 30
son of James IV
Mary I
1542-1567
8 December 1542
Linlithgow Palace
daughter of James V and Mary of Guise
François II, King of France
24 April 1558
no children
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh
9 July 1565
one child
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell
Holyrood Palace
15 May 1567
no children
8 February 1587
Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England
aged 44
daughter of James V
James VI
1567-1625
19 June 1566
Edinburgh Castle
son of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Mary I
Anne of Denmark
Old Bishop's Palace, Oslo, Norway
23 November 1589
seven children
27 March 1625
Theobalds House, Hertfordshire, England
aged 58
son of Mary I
Charles I
1625-1649
19 November 1600
Dunfermline Palace, Dunfermline
son of James VI and Anne of Denmark
Henrietta Maria of France
St Augustine's Church, Canterbury, England
13 June 1625
nine children
30 January 1649
Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, England
aged 48
son of James VI
Charles II
1649-1651
29 May 1630
St James's Palace, Westminster, England
son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France
Catherine of Braganza
Portsmouth, England
14 May 1662
no children
6 February 1685
Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, England
aged 54
son of Charles I

Third Interregnum (1651–1660)

Monarchy of Scotland restored (third time)

House of Stuart restored (1660–1707)

With the Scottish Restoration, the Stuarts became Kings of Scotland once more but Scotland's rights were not respected. During the reign of Charles II, the Scottish Parliament was dissolved and James was appointed Governor of Scotland. James II himself became James VII in 1685. His Catholicism was not tolerated, and he was driven out of England after three years. In his place came his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, the ruler of the Dutch Republic. The two were accepted as monarchs of Scotland after a period of deliberation by the Scottish Parliament and ruled together as William II and Mary II.
An attempt to establish a Scottish colonial empire through the Darien Scheme, in rivalry to that of England, failed, leaving the Scottish nobles who financed the venture for their profit bankrupt. This coincided with the accession of Queen Anne, daughter of James VII. Anne had multiple children but none of these survived her, leaving as her heir her half-brother, James, then living in exile in France. The English favored the Protestant Sophia of Hanover as heir. Many Scots preferred Prince James, who as a Stuart was a Scot by ancestry, and threatened to break the Union of Crowns between England and Scotland by choosing him for themselves. To preserve the union, the English elaborated a plan whereby the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England would merge into a single Kingdom, the Kingdom of Great Britain, ruled by a common monarch, and with a single Parliament. Both national parliaments agreed to this, and some subterfuge as a total majority of signatories were needed to ratify the Scottish parliament's assent, bribes, and payments. Thereafter, although monarchs continued to rule over the nation of Scotland, they did so first as monarchs of Great Britain, and from 1801 of the United Kingdom.
NamePortraitBirthMarriageDeathDynastic status
Charles II
1660-1685
29 May 1630
St James's Palace, Westminster, England
son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France
Catherine of Braganza
Portsmouth, England
14 May 1662
no children
6 February 1685
Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, England
aged 54
son of Charles I
James VII
1685-1688
14 October 1633
St James's Palace, Westminster, England
son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France
Anne Hyde
The Strand, London, England
3 September 1660
eight children
Mary of Modena
Dover, England
21 November 1673
seven children
16 September 1701
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
aged 67
son of Charles I
Mary II
1689-1694
30 April 1662
St James's Palace, England
daughter of James VII and Anne Hyde
St James's Palace
4 November 1677
three children
28 December 1694
Kensington Palace, England
aged 32
grandchildren of Charles I
William II
1689-1702
4 November 1650
The Hague, Dutch Republic
son of William II, Prince of Orange and Mary, Princess Royal
St James's Palace
4 November 1677
three children
8 March 1702
Kensington Palace
aged 51
grandchildren of Charles I
Anne
1702-1707
Queen of Great Britain and Ireland
1707-1714
6 February 1665
St James's Palace
daughter of James VII and Anne Hyde
George of Denmark
St James's Palace
28 July 1683
17 children
1 August 1714
Kensington Palace
aged 49
daughter of James VII

For the British monarchs see List of British monarchs.

Jacobite claimants

James VII continued to claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. When he died in 1701, his son James inherited his father's claims and called himself James VIII of Scotland and III of England and Ireland. He would continue to do so all his life, even after the Kingdoms of England and Scotland were ended by their merging as the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1715, a year after the death of his sister, Queen Anne, and the accession of their cousin George of Hanover, James landed in Scotland and attempted to claim the throne. He failed and was forced to flee back to the Continent. A second attempt by his son, Charles on behalf of his father, in 1745, also failed. Both James's children died without legitimate issue, bringing the Stuart family to an end.
After 1807, the Jacobite claims passed first to the House of Savoy, then to the Modenese branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and finally to the House of Wittelsbach. The current heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria. Neither he nor any of his predecessors since 1807 have pursued their claim.

Timeline of Scottish monarchs


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from: 843 till: 1034 color: al text:Alpin
from: 1034 till: 1286 color: du text:Dunkeld
from: 1286 till: 1290 color: fa text:Fairhair
from: 1290 till: 1292 color: cw text:N/A
from: 1292 till: 1296 color: ba text:Balliol
from: 1296 till: 1306 color: cw text:N/A
from: 1306 till: 1371 color: br text:Bruce
from: 1371 till: 1567 color: sw text:Stewart
from: 1567 till: 1651 color: su text:Stuart
from: 1651 till: 1660 color: cw text:Cromwell
from: 1660 till: 1707 color: su text:Stuart
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift: anchor:till
barset:Rulers
from: 843 till: 858 color:al text:Kenneth I
from: 858 till: 862 color:al text:Donald I
from: 862 till: 877 color:al text:Constantine I
from: 877 till: 878 color:al text:Áed
from: 878 till: 889 color:al text:Giric
from: 878 till: 889 color:al text:Eochaid
from: 889 till: 900 color:al text:Donald II
from: 900 till: 943 color:al text:Constantine II
from: 943 till: 954 color:al text:Malcolm I
from: 954 till: 962 color:al text:Indulf
from: 962 till: 967 color:al text:Dub
from: 967 till: 971 color:al text:Cuilén
from: 973 till: 977 color:al text:Amlaíb
from: 977 till: 995 color:al text:Kenneth II
from: 995 till: 997 color:al text:Constantine III
from: 997 till: 1005 color:al text:Kenneth III
from: 1005 till: 1034 color:al text:Malcolm II
from: 1034 till: 1040 color:du text:Duncan I
from: 1040 till: 1057 color:du text:Macbeth
from: 1057 till: 1058 color:du text:Lulach
from: 1058 till: 1093 color:du text:Malcolm III
from: 1093 till: 1097 color:du text:Donald III
from: 1094 till: 1094 color:du text:Duncan II
from: 1097 till: 1107 color:du text:Edgar
from: 1107 till: 1124 color:du text:Alexander I
from: 1124 till: 1153 color:du text:David I
from: 1153 till: 1165 color:du text:Malcolm IV
from: 1165 till: 1214 color:du text:William I
from: 1214 till: 1249 color:du text:Alexander II
from: 1249 till: 1286 color:du text:Alexander III
from: 1286 till: 1290 color:fa text:Margaret, Maid of Norway
from: 1292 till: 1296 color:ba text:John Balliol
from: 1306 till: 1329 color:br text:Robert I
from: 1329 till: 1371 color:br text:David II
from: 1371 till: 1390 color:sw text:Robert II
from: 1390 till: 1406 color:sw text:Robert III
from: 1406 till: 1437 color:sw text:James I
from: 1437 till: 1460 color:sw text:James II
from: 1460 till: 1488 color:sw text:James III
from: 1488 till: 1513 color:sw text:James IV
from: 1513 till: 1542 color:sw text:James V
from: 1542 till: 1567 color:sw text:Mary I
from: 1567 till: 1625 color:su text:James VI
from: 1625 till: 1649 color:su text:Charles I
from: 1649 till: 1651 color:su text:Charles II
from: 1653 till: 1658 color:cw text:Oliver Cromwell
from: 1658 till: 1659 color:cw text:Richard Cromwell
from: 1660 till: 1685 color:su text:Charles II
from: 1685 till: 1689 color:su text:James VII
from: 1689 till: 1702 color:su text:William II
from: 1689 till: 1694 color:su text:Mary II
from: 1702 till: 1707 color:su text:Anne
barset:skip

Acts of Union

The Acts of Union were twin Parliamentary Acts passed during 1706 and 1707 by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland, putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union, agreed on 22 July 1706, following prolonged negotiation between Queen Anne's Commissioners representing both parliaments. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to form a united Kingdom of Great Britain.
Scotland and England had shared a common monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603 when the Scottish king James VI succeeded to the English throne. Although described as a Union of Crowns, before the Acts of Union of 1707, the crowns of the two separate kingdoms had rested on the same head. Three unsuccessful attempts were made to unite the two kingdoms by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that the idea had the will of both political establishments to succeed, thereby bringing the two separate states together under a single parliament as well as a single monarch.

Coronation oath

The coronation oath was sworn by every Scottish monarch from James VI to Charles II and approved by the Estates of Parliament in 1567:
I, N.N., promise faithfully, in the presence of the eternal, my God, that I, enduring the whole Course of my Life, shall serve the same Eternal, my God, to the utmost of my Power, accordingly as he required in his most Holy Word, revealed and contained in the New and Old Testament; and according to the same Word shall maintain the true Religion of Jesus Christ, the preaching of his Holy Word, and due and right administration of his Sacraments, now received and practised within this Realm; and shall abolish and oppose all false Religion contrary to the same; and shall rule the People committed to my Charge, according to the Will and Command of God, revealed in his foresaid Word, and according to the lovable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm, in no way repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal, my God; and shall procure to my utmost to the Kirk of God and whole Christian people true and perfect Peace in all times coming; the Rights and Rents, with all just privileges of the Crown of Scotland, I shall preserve and keep inviolate, neither shall I transfer nor alienate the same; I shall forbid and repress in all Estates and all Degrees theft, Oppression and all kind of Wrong; in all Judgements, I shall command and procure that Justice and Equity be kept to all creatures without exception, as he be merciful to me and you that is the Lord and Father of all Mercies; and out of all my lands and empire I shall be careful to root out all Heresy and Enemies to the true Worship of God, that shall be convicted by the true Kirk of God of the foresaid Crimes; and these Things above-written I faithfully affirm by my solemn Oath.

The coronation oath is sworn by William II, Mary II and Anne was approved by the Parliament of Scotland on 18 April 1689. The oath was as follows:
WE William and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland, faithfully promise and swear, by this our solemn Oath, in presence of the Eternal God, that during the whole Course of our Life we will serve the same Eternal God, to the uttermost of our Power, according as he has required in his most Holy Word, revealed and contained in the New and Old Testament; and according to the same Word shall maintain the true Religion of Christ Jesus, the preaching of his Holy Word, and the due and right Ministration of the Sacraments, now received and preached within the Realm of Scotland; and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same, and shall rule the People committed to our Charge, according to the Will and Command of God, revealed in his aforesaid Word, and according to the laudable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm, no ways repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal God; and shall procure, to the utmost of our power, to the Kirk of God, and whole Christian People, true and perfect Peace in all time coming. That we shall preserve and keep inviolated the Rights and Rents, with all just Privileges of the Crown of Scotland, neither shall we transfer nor alienate the same; that we shall forbid and repress in all Estates and Degrees, Reif, Oppression and all kind of Wrong. And we shall command and procure, that Justice and Equity in all Judgments be kept to all Persons without exception, us the Lord and Father of all Mercies shall be merciful to us. And we shall be careful to root out all Heretics and Enemies to the true Worship of God, that shall be convicted by the true Kirk of God, of the aforesaid Crimes, out of our Lands and Empire of Scotland. And we faithfully affirm the Things above-written by our solemn Oath.