The title of Earl of Aboyne in the Peerage of Scotland is held by the Gordon family, with the heir apparent to the Marquessate of Huntly using it as a courtesy title.
The peerage title of Earl of Aboyne was originally created in September 1660 for Lord Charles Gordon. At the time, he was the fourth son of George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly, and younger brother to James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne. Charles Gordon was also made Lord Gordon of Strathaven and Glenlivet on the same occasion, with both titles being in the Peerage of Scotland.[1]
The title descended from father to son for several generations. Charles Gordon's great-great-grandson, the 5th Earl, eventually succeeded to the higher title of Marquess of Huntly in 1836. Since then, the peerage earldom of Aboyne has been a subsidiary title held by the holder of the marquessate.[2]
There is some contemporaneous evidence that suggests the title may have originally been created during the Civil War for Viscount Aboyne. However, this alleged prior creation is not substantiated in the primary sources on British and Scottish peerage.
- ^ Cokayne 1910, p. 53.
- ^ Cokayne 1910, p. 54.