into the rabbit hole

glory be, i have rediscovered the joy of reading. my current selection, Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George, has taken me on a wandering trip into the depths of the internet to trace the lineage of 15th and 16th century royalty,  namely the tudors, stuarts, and douglases...a trip into our family's scottish past, reminiscent of the annual games, tartans and personal histories that are more interesting than fiction. 

this led to queen elizabeth's family history, down the more recent rabbit hole of the mountbatten line and its tragedies. my favorite quote, acquired from a biographer, Hough, of Princess Victoria of Hesse (prince phillip's maternal grandmother):

"What will live in history is the good work done by the individual that has nothing to do with rank or title ... I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You're so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don't want them to."

...

unbeknownst to me until yesterday, when the baby mary was born to marie of guise, mary's two (legitimate) brothers had perished, leaving her the only heir to the thrown under king james. but there were others waiting in the wings, whose status of royalty hung in the balance  of mary's survival. the next in line for the thrown, aside from six day old mary, was james hamilton. we all know how mary's story ended, and no hamilton ascended the thrown. 

what if he had? 

the last of the outmoded hamilton country houses was demolished in the 1920's. below is a picture of hamilton palace, just north-east of hamilton, scotland. the downton abbey of the north, perhaps? 
it was demolished in 1927.