James, Lord Hamilton's Coat of Arms

In 1469 the Boyds of Kilmarnock were accused of plotting to overthrow the King, and Lord Robert and his son Thomas were forced to flee abroad, Robert to England and Thomas to Denmark.  Thomas had been warned by and was accompanied into exile by his wife, the King's sister, Mary.  King James II declared the marriage between his sister and Thomas disolved, and when she returned to plead with her brother to pardon Thomas she was held against her will in her former home of Dean Castle.  Thomas died in exile in 1474 and Mary was ordered to marry Lord Hamilton, a man many years her senior. Just as Thomas Boyd had done before, Hamilton impaled his own coat of arms with the Royal Lion Rampant.  The Hamilton arms were already quartered - divided in four.  The original Hamilton arms had three cinquefoils or five-leafed patterns (which represent lillies, the Scottish form of the fleur de lis).  The ship was added after his marriage to Princess Mary as he also inherited the Earldom of Arran from the unfortunate Boyd family.  The Hamiltons remained Earls of Arran until the later years of the 20th Century.