Blazon of Arms:
Shield: Azure, a crescent between three mullets argent
SOURCES, NOTES & CREDITS: The illustration for background and the text are adapted from the Wikipedia article.
The Viscount of Arbuthnott is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1641, along with the subsidiary title Lord Inverbervie, for Sir Robert Arbuthnott. The Viscount of Arbuthnott is the hereditary chief of Clan Arbuthnott.
At the time of the 16th Viscount’s death in 2012, the family held the genealogical record of being one of an unbroken male line living in the same spot for more than 800 years. Around 1188, William the Lion granted ancestor Hugh de Swinton the lands of Arbuthnott, where the family estate and clan association headquarters remain to this day.
All Scottish viscounts have ‘of’ in their titles, contrary to English viscounts who are styled simply Viscount X. However, most Scottish viscounts have now adopted the English practice; only the Viscount of Arbuthnott and, to a lesser extent, the Viscount of Oxfuird, continue to use “of”.
The current Viscount is John Keith Oxley Arbuthnott born in 1950; he is the 17th Viscount of Arbuthnott. His heir apparent is his only son, the Hon. Christopher Keith Arbuthnott, Master of Arbuthnott born in 1977. The heir apparent’s heir apparent is his only son, Alexander Nicholas Keith Arbuthnott born in 2007.
The artwork is an interpretation of John Hamilton Gaylor.
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