Attributed to Sir John Baptist Medina, 1659-1710

The sitter was the son of William Keith, 5^th Earl of Marischal, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John Erskine, Earl of Mar.  He served in the French army, where he became a colonel.  He held a command, ex parte Regis, at the Battle of Preston in 1648, where the royalists were soundly defeated, and again, on 3^rd September 1851 at Worcester, where the Scots were overwhelmed by Cromwell.  He was taken prisoner and sent to Windsor castle.  After his release, he participated in the ceremonial opening of Parliament, riding ‘out before, with a permission cap, and a baton in his hand’.  He married Mary Hay, the daughter of the 2^nd Earl of Kinnoull, in 1662.  She was Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen.  He succeeded his brother, the 6^th Earl in 1671.