SCOTLAND’S FIRST LADY


was brought up at Traquair House, near Peebles in the Scottish Borders. The Stuarts had suffered a decline in its wealth and influence through both their allegiance to the Jacobites and their Catholic sympathies. As such, the Earl was deter- mined that his three daughters would marry into wealthy and influential families. He certainly didn’t bank on Christina falling in love with a young American student. Cyrus Griffin was born in Farnham, Virginia


and studied law at the Temple in London and then the University of Edinburgh, where he became close friends with Christina’s brother, Charles Stuart, Lord Linton. In 1770 Charles invited Griffin to spend the Christmas holidays at Traquair. It was there that the young scholar was


introduced, and was immediately attracted to, Christina, who by all accounts was blessed with both striking beauty and a magnetic personality.


‘In the spring of 1770 Christina and Cyrus eloped; a daring escape across hills and through forests’


The feeling was clearly mutual because the two began a secret courtship, which quickly blos- somed into a deep and passionate love. Christina’s troubles began the moment Cyrus


Griffin told her father of his intention to marry her. Without wealth or social standing, the Earl would never give them his blessing. And, outraged by possibility of their affair becoming a scandal, he demanded that Christina end the relationship. Undaunted and in love, in the spring of 1770


Christina and Cyrus eloped; a daring escape from Traquair across hills and through forests. One version of the story has it that during their flight Christina fell and broke her ankle, forcing Cyrus to carry her to the minister, who was waiting to perform the ceremony. The following year, Christina had the first


Top left: The current owner of Traquair House, Catherine Maxwell Stuart. Above: Christina Griffin Stuart.


of her four children. At this point she was still living at Traquair while Cyrus was undertaking his pupillage in London, but the damage to the relationship with her father had become irrep- arable; so much so that Christina and her son were thrown out of Traquair to make way for her brother and his new wife. They were forced to live in London with her


husband, where they lived in virtual penury. In desperation, Cyrus wrote numerous letters to Christina’s father begging for money, all to no


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