Lady Jane Douglas said she gave birth to twins in Paris at 50, and the Duke of Hamilton sued to prove her son was a stolen child

Archibald, 1st Duke of Douglas, had no children. His sister Lady Jane Douglas, born in March 1698, married Colonel John Stewart in secret on 4 August 1746. On 10 July 1748 in Paris she said she had given birth to twin sons, Archibald and Sholto. She was 50. The duke refused to believe in the children, stopped her allowance and would not see her. Sholto died, and Lady Jane died poor in Edinburgh on 22 November 1753. In 1758 the duke married Margaret Douglas, who pressed him to examine the case. He became convinced, revoked the entail and settled his estates on Archibald. The duke died on 21 July 1761. Archibald, aged 13, took estates worth £12,000 a year and the surname Douglas. In 1762 the guardians of the young Duke of Hamilton, heir male, sued. They argued the boy had been obtained in Paris, citing two children of poor parents stolen there around the time of the birth. In July 1767 the Court of Session split 7 to 7, and Lord President Robert Dundas gave the casting vote for Hamilton. In February 1769 the House of Lords reversed the decision and declared Archibald the son of Lady Jane. Crowds shouting "Douglas for ever!" smashed the windows of the judges who had voted against him, and troops were called out for two nights. Archibald was not made a peer until 1790. The estates passed through his daughter Jane Margaret, Lady Montagu, to the Earls of Home.