Castle Leod (10 of 10)
John Mackenzie, eldest son of George, 3rd Earl of Cromarty, also fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie, was sentenced to death but pardoned.  A man of great military ability, he went to Sweden where he rose to the rank of Major-General and was created a Count.  Eventually returning to Scotland, the family estates were restored to him, but not the earldom.  In later life, he raised the Highland Light Infantry for the government.  Dying childless, his estates passed to his sister Isabella.

Isabella Mackenzie married Admiral George Murray, 6th Lord Elibank.  Their daughter and heiress, Maria Murray, married Edward Hay, who changed his name to Hay-Mackenzie (of Cromartie).  Their only son had an only daughter, Anne Hay-Mackenzie, who married George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland.  Not only did she become a duchess by marriage, Queen Victoria restored the Cromarty earldom to her as well.  It has always been 'who you know', not 'what you know!'!

The elder two sons of the 3rd Duke and Duchess Isabella, were successively Dukes of Sutherland, but the duchess passed her earldom to her 3rd son Francis, who thus became 2nd Earl of Cromarty.  Once again though, producing a male heir proved impossible, and the title passed to the earl's daughter, Sibell Lilian Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, who married Lt-Col. Edward Walter Blunt.  They changed their name to Blunt-Mackenzie.

Sibell Lilian Blunt-Mackenzie, 3rd Countess of Cromarty, died in 1962 and was succeeded by her son, Roderick Grant Francis Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Cromarty, who died 1989 and was succeeded by the current earl, John Ruaridh Grant Mackenzie.
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