Lilias (Drummond) Drummond Countess Dunfermline (bef. 1574 - 1601)

Born before 1574 in Haddington, Haddingtonshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 8 May 1601 after age 27 in Dalgety, Fife, Scotland

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Biography

Lilias (Drummond) Drummond Countess Dunfermline was born in Scotland.

Lilias Drummond was the daughter of Patrick Drummond, 3rd Lord Drummond and Lady Elizabeth Lindsay.^[1]She was also known as Baroness Fyvie and was born in 1574, at Haddington, Haddingtonshire, Scotland.

Somewhere between 1590 to the 1st of July 1592, she married Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, son of George Seton, 5th Lord Seton and Isabel Hamilton. The marriage produced five daughters in nine years.^[2]

It was after the birth of her last daughter that Lilias moved permanently to Dalgety, Fife, Scotland, where she died on the 8th of May, 1601.^[2][3]

Legend & Rumour

Legend has it that Lilias is known as

Fyvie Castle Photo Credit Screamingbluemessiah January 29, 2010

When Lillias Drummond married ^[4] Alexander Seton, Lord Fyvie and later 1st Earl of Dumferline
the Seton Fyvie Castle holding was already cursed by bard and seer Thomas the Rhymer, who had predicted in the thirteenth century that no male heir to Fyvie would ever be born within the castle walls, it is rumoured that Lord Seton blamed Lillias Drummond for the lack of a son and heir when he began an affair with the cousin of his wife, (and later future wife) ^[5] Grizel Leslie, it is said that Lillias, upon learning of the affair, betrayed and heartbroken retired to their home in Dalgety and wasted away of a broken heart and died shortly after; others say her death cause was to poisoning or starvation at the hands of Lord Seton.

In October, only months after Lillias died, Alexander Seton married Grizel Leslie, on their wedding night when in the matrimonial bed, they both were distracted by sad, moaning from outside their room window, and even after a search by Lord Seton & Servants, no reason could be found for the sound. ^[6] The next morning there was the words D. LILLIAS DRUMMOND etched into the stone windowsill in letters three inches high and upside down, the window is over 50 feet from the ground below. The etched letters can still be seen to this day. ^[7] ~ From this time onwards Fyvie Castle has been haunted by a lady in green, roaming the corridors of the castle, crying the betrayal of her husband, and leaving behind a scent of Rose petals.

Words D. LILLIAS DRUMMOND - etched into the stone windowsill - Photo Credit: Screamingbluemessiah January 29, 2010

Sources

1. ↑ The Scots Peerage; Balfour Paul; Vol 7; page 47
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} The Scots Peerage; Balfour Paul; Vol 3; page 372
3. ↑ Index of Wills & Testaments; Drummond, Lilias; 16/1/1609; Dame, Lady Fyvie, sometime spouse to Alexander, Earl of Dunfermline, Great Chancellor of Scotland; Testament Dative and Inventory; Edinburgh Commissary Court; CC8/8/44; from www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
4. ↑ Cyber Ancestors - Alexander Seton 1st Earl of Dunfermlin
5. ↑ Fab Pedigree.com - The PEDIGREE of Grizel LESLIE
6. ↑ Paranormal Stories - Ghost Stories Fyvie Castle
7. ↑ Gordon Castles.Wikia.com -Castles of Clan Gordon Wiki

See Also:

• The Peerage Website ID #65763 is a genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe
• https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/dd/drummond01.php
• Ghost Profiles