The Last Earl
Catherine Maxwell Stuart
Tuesday, 13th January 2026
Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, 7.30 p.m.
Charles Stuart was the last Earl of Traquair (1781 – 1861), bringing to an end eight generations of the Earldom of Traquair.
He was an eccentric character, brought up in Spain and returned to Scotland after the death of his mother in 1802. After his father’s death he inherited a mountain of debts and turned his attention to ensuring the estate was improved.
He had a great love for his local community and an insatiable curiosity for knowledge. His more eccentric side came out in his passion for organising local wasp hunts, sharpening razors and as a confirmed bachelor he grew tired of his family’s efforts to find him a suitor and would hide nettles in their beds!
His life and times reflect the limitations placed on Catholic families in taking part in public life, although he retained a romantic loyalty to the Jacobite cause.
Catherine Maxwell Stuart is the 21st Lady of Traquair and has been running day to day operations at Traquair House since the early 1990s. She is a history graduate from the London School of Economics.
Catherine has been extensively involved in heritage and the arts for the past three decades and has co-authored a book on the History of the Stuart Family at Traquair with archivist, Margaret Fox.
She has recently been made Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale in 2024.
