STEWART, John [ruled as Robert III] King of Scots ³

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  General Notes:

Robert III's given name was John.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Granted: Earldom of Carrick, June 1368, Scotland. ¹ King David II had been Earl of Carrick when heir to the throne; Carrick was part of the Bruce patrimony. In doing this the king may have been acknowledging that Stewart would succeed him as king.

In fact King david died, aged 46, in 1371 and John's father, succeeded David, becoming King Robert II of Scots. John would not become king until his father's death in 1390, and reigned then as King Robert III of Scots.

John married Annabella DRUMMOND Queen of Scots, daughter of Sir John DRUMMOND of Stobhall and Mary MONTEFICHET, 13 March 1365(1366) (papal dispensation) and concluded before May 1367.^{1 2} (Annabella DRUMMOND Queen of Scots was born between 1349 and 1354 ¹, baptised in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland, died in 1401 in Scone Palace, Scone, Perthshire, Scotland ^{1 3} and was buried in 1401 in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

"The prominence of Annabella's aunt would prove fortuitous to her niece. David II had no children by 1366, and his heir was his nephew, Robert Stewart. The relationship between Stewart and the king was tense at best, and David II had tried several options to divert the succession from Stewart, with no success. In March 1366, Annabella and John Stewart, lord of Kyle and son of Robert Stewart, were granted a papal dispensation for their marriage. The marriage was concluded before May 1367, at which point John's father granted his son and his new wife his earldom of Atholl. The marriage between Stewart's son and the niece of David's queen suggests that the king was acknowledging the possibility of a Stewart succession, but that he was grooming his preferred Stewart to take his place within the line of succession."

"Annabella and Robert III had at least seven children. The eldest, their daughters Margaret and Elizabeth, were born in the early years of their marriage, and certainly before 1373, when they were excluded from the royal succession by Robert II's entail of the crown to his male heirs. This settlement meant that should Annabella and John not have a son, the crown would pass to John's brother and his male children, rather than to Annabella and John's daughters."

from History Scotland article




"King Robert married, about the year 1367, Annabella, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, who was crowned at Scone 15 August 1390, and died there in the autumn of 1401." (page 17, ll 26 and 27)

from Scots Peerage (vol 1)

(referring to Scots Peerage, volume 1, in "The Kings of Scotland")

"p. 17, ll. 26 and 27, delete 'about the year 1367,' and insert ' Papal dispensation, dated 13 March 1365-66 ' (cf. vol. vii. 37).'

from Scots Peerage (vol 9 Addenda et Corrigenda) ^{1 2 3}

John next married.