Duke of Hamilton’s widow reveals he was an independence supporter

The Duke of Hamilton widow reveals “Yes” views.

The Duke of Hamilton’s widow has revealed the colourful peer was a supporter of Scottish independence.

A member of one of the country’s leading aristocratic families, the Dowager Duchess of Hamilton has claimed her husband Angus, who passed away in 2010, was a socialist and supported a breakaway from the Union.

The Duchess said she will campaign for a Yes vote in the coming months, claiming “it’s what Scotland needs and what my husband would have wanted”.

The 15th Duke of Hamilton, right, was the premier peer of Scotland and hereditary Keeper of Holyroodhouse Palace, the Queen’s official residence north of the Border.

The duchess claims one of his proudest moments was carrying the Crown of Scotland and leading the Queen into the chamber at the reconvening ceremony of the Scottish parliament.

Kay Carmichael, a former hospice nurse, met the Duke through a shared love of animal rights issues and they married in 1998.

She said: “I pray there is a Yes vote on September 18 and I know that if Angus were still here, he would too.

“I have experienced life at both ends of the spectrum as a child and young woman growing up in a small tenement flat in a poorer area of Aberdeen, to being the wife and best friend of Scotland’s premier peer.

“I know, as my husband did, that Scotland can become a better, fairer and more compassionate nation as an independent country.

“It may surprise people to know that in stark contrast to other members of the family, and especially his younger brother [Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, who became a Tory Minister in the Scottish Office] Angus was a life-long socialist and Labour supporter.

She added: “I know some people will say, ‘It’s OK for her to talk, she’s well off’ and, of course, it’s true I am comfortable. But I come from a very humble background and I’ve not lost my sense of fairness and compassion.”

The former nurse is credited with helping the duke through bouts of alcoholism and has campaigned for changes to mental health laws in the wake of her late husband’s battle with dementia.

The duchess has already spoken from the platform at a Yes Scotland public meeting in East Lothian and is planning to take a more active role in the campaign, raising the prospect of a pro-independence ‘Aristocrats for Yes’ group.

The Hamilton dukedom is the third oldest in the UK and the most senior title in Scotland, dating from 1643.