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'''Robert Stewart''' (b. Mar [[1533]], Midlothian - d. 4 February [[1593]], Kirkwall, Orkney) was by title the 1st Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland.

==Biography==
Robert was the bastard son of King James V and Euphemia Elphinstone. He became ''Commendator of the Abbey of Holyrood'' as a child in [[1539]]. He received from his half sister, Mary Queen of Scots, a tack of Orkney and [[Shetland]] in [[1564]] followed by a feu charter in [[1565]]. Robert compelled Adam Bothwell, (then Bishop of Orkney), to exchange the Bishopric of Orkney for the Abbey of Holyrood in 1568. Robert was entitled the 1st [[Earl of Orkney]] in [[1581]].

Earl Robert was accused of treasonable dealings with [[Denmark]] and of tyrannical proceedings against the inhabitants of Orkney and Shetland in [[1575]]. In [[1571]] he appointed his half-brother [[Laurence Bruce (i)|Laurence Bruce]] of Cultmalindie ''[[Foud|foud]]'' of Shetland. Bruce was an even greater tyrant than Stewart, and was the subject of a mass complaint by the Shetlanders in [[1577]].

Robert Stewart built the laird's house at [[Jarlshof]] in Sumburgh shortly before he died. On his death he was succeeded by his son [[Earl Patrick Stewart]], who continued his father's reign of cruelty and terror for the islands.

==External Links==
*[http://bayanne.info/Shetland/getperson.php?personID=I9279&tree=ID1 Bayanne genealogy page]

[[Category:Incomers to Shetland]]
[[Category:Earls of Orkney]]