Euphemia de Ross

Euphemia de Ross (1329–1386), a member of Clan Ross, was Queen of Scots as the second wife of Robert II of Scotland.

Euphemia de Ross
Euphemia depicted in the Forman Armorial, produced in 1562 for her descendant Mary, Queen of Scots
Queen consort of Scots
Tenure	1371–1386
Coronation	26 March 1371
Born	1329 Cromarty Castle, Cromartyshire, Scotland
Died	1386
Spouse	John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray Robert II of Scotland ​ ​ (m. 1355)​
Issue	David Stewart, 1st Earl of Caithness Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl Margaret Stewart Elizabeth Stewart, Countess of Crawford Egidia Stewart
House	Ross
Father	Hugh, Earl of Ross
Mother	Margaret de Graham

Life

Euphemia was a daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross, and Margaret de Graham, Hugh's second wife and daughter of Sir John de Graham of Abercorn.^[1] She first married John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, but the marriage was childless. Her husband died in 1346, and she remained a widow for nine years.

On 2 May 1355, Euphemia married Robert Stewart, sole son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland and Marjorie Bruce. Marjorie was a daughter of Robert I of Scotland (Robert The Bruce), and his first wife, Isabella of Mar. Over a decade earlier, her second husband, Robert, had been joint Regent of Scotland with her first husband.

It appears that there was an obstacle of affinity to this second marriage, and a papal dispensation by Pope Innocent VI was required for it to be recognized by the Catholic Church. The affinity was due to her first husband, John Randolph, Earl of Moray, having been a second cousin of Robert Stewart. There also was a blood relationship, as the dispensation referenced their being related in the fourth degree of consanguinity, but this relationship has as yet not been identified.^[2]

Arms of Euphemia as queen consort of Scotland

The children of Robert's first marriage to Elizabeth Mure were considered illegitimate by some due to reasons of consanguinity. Both sets of children from each marriage considered themselves rightful heirs to the throne, which constituted considerable future conflict.^[3]

Euphemia and Robert were parents to four children, and grandparents to many grandchildren:

• David Stewart, 1st Earl of Caithness (b. 1357 - d. bef. 1389), married Euphemia Lindsay, daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk, of Clan Lindsay

• Euphemia Stewart, Countess of Strathearn (died c. 1434), married Patrick Graham, Earl of Strathearn (d. 10 August 1413), of Clan Graham, and had issue.

• Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl (b. 1360 – d. 1437), married Margaret Barclay, Lady of Brechin, of Clan Barclay

• Alan Stewart, 4th Earl of Caithness (d. 1431)
• David Stewart, Master of Atholl (d. bef. 1437)

• Elizabeth Stewart, married David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford (c. 1360 – 1407), of Clan Lindsay

• Gerard Lindsay (d. before 1421)
• Ingram Lindsay, Bishop of Aberdeen (d. 1458)
• Marjorie Lindsay, married Sir William Douglas of Clan Douglas
• Alexander Lindsay, 2nd Earl of Crawford (c. 1387–1438)
• David Lindsay, Lord of Newdosk (1407–?); he later became a priest
• Elizabeth Lindsay; she married Sir Robert Keith of Clan Keith
• Elizabeth Lindsay (1407–?); married Robert Erskine, 1st Lord Erskine, of Clan Erskine; she may have been confused with her sister of the same name, and it is possible that they were one and the same person.
• Isabella Lindsay (1407–?), married Sir John Maxwell of Pollok, of Clan Maxwell, and had issue.

• Egidia Stewart, married Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale (c. 1370 – 1391), the illegitimate son of Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas, of Clan Douglas:

• Egidia Douglas, "Fair Maid of Nithsdale", married firstly to Henry Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Orkney (d. 1422), of Clan Sinclair, and married secondly to Sir Alasdair Stewart (executed 1425), son of Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany.
• Sir William Douglas, Knt., Lord of Nithsdale (died c.1419)

Robert II succeeded his childless maternal uncle David II of Scotland in 1371. Euphemia was then queen for about fifteen years, until her death in 1386.

References

1. John P. Ravilious, Queen Euphemia and her ancestry, The Scottish Genealogist, June 2017, vol. LXIV(2) pp. 49–52. Prior publications including J. Balfour Paul's Scots Peerage identify Margaret de Graham in error as a daughter of Sir David Graham of Montrose.
2. Andrew Stuart, Genealogical History of the Stewarts (London, 1798), pp. 420–421.
3. Ashley, Mike (1999). The mammoth book of British kings and queens. London: Robinson Publishers. p. 553. ISBN 1-84119-096-9.

Scottish royalty
Preceded by Margaret Drummond	Queen consort of Scotland 1371–1386	Succeeded by Anabella Drummond