Biography

George Keith. (ca. 1693-1778) (aka. 10th Earl Marischal)

Son of William Keith (d. 1712), 9th Earl Marischal, and Mary Drummond (1675-1729). Brother of James Francis Edward Keith (1696-1758), who was sometime Prussian Field Marshal and Governor of Berlin. One of his sisters, Anne Keith (d. 1728) was the first wife of the 6th Earl of Galloway.

Keith went into exile after having supported the Jacobite rebellion in 1715. He later gained a reputation throughout Europe for being an excellent and much respected diplomat. A favourite of Frederick the Great of Prussia, Keith was appointed Prussian ambassador to Paris (1751) and Spain (1758), as well as Governor of Neuchatel (1752), when the city was under Prussian supremacy. His ambassadorship in Spain enabled him to warn the British about an impending Franco-Spanish alliance; as a result of this, we was granted a pardon, and his title and part of his former Scottish possessions were restored to him. In the early 1760s he even acted as Prussian Ambassador to England.

In 1764, however, he was called back to Berlin, never to return to Scotland. He was reputedly one of the select few, who was always guaranteed one of the four guest rooms in Frederik the Great's famous but small Sans Souci residence near Potsdam.

George Keith was a long-time friend and protector of the philosopher Rousseau, who wrote of him in his Confessions:

"How many affectionate tears have I shed on my path as I thought of the goodness, the lovable virtues, the gentle philosophy of that venerable old man! I called him my father, he called me his child. These two names give some idea of the attachment which bound us together, but they fail to express the need which we had of each other, and of our unremitting desire to be in each other's company"
(Source: Boswell on the Grand Tour (vol 1), p. 217)

Life with James Boswell:

Keith had a great impact on Boswell's life during the few months in which their paths crossed. The first mention of Keith in the Yale Trade editions is in a letter from Alexander Boswell (dated April 2, 1764) to James; JB had communicated to his father a wish to visit some of the numerous German courts of the time, and Alexander Boswell replied that Earl Marischal, who was in Scotland at the time, particularly recommended visits to the Prince of Brunswick, the Prince of Baden-Durlach and, of course, the King of Prussia, Frederich the Great. On June 4, Boswell received the great news, that he was to accompany Keith through some of the courts, on his way back from Scotland to Berlin. On June 13, Keith arrived in Utrecht, and a few days later he and Boswell set out on their journey, accompanied by Keith's adoptive daughter, Emet-Ulla.

Boswell saw little of Keith for the ensuing months, but on September 5 he visited him in Potsdam together with Alexander Burnett. In the evening he played a slight joke on him together with Lauchlan MacPherson, which was taken with good humour, and on the 6th the two (Boswell and Keith) had an intimate and friendly conversation, leading to Keith's writing to Lord Auchinleck, asking him to allow Boswell to travel round Europe for another year. In the end:

"He took down from his bookcase the history of Robert the Bruce in old verse, and made me a present of it, writing upon it, "Scotus Scoto," and saying, "Now you must read this once every year." I had almost cried before the good old man. We dined with his Lordship."

This article was last updated at May 31 2008 15:34:55 CET

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