Anna Mackenzie

Lady Anna Mackenzie (1621–1707), also Ann MacKenzie, was a Scottish courtier, wife of the first Earl of Balcarres and the mother of the second and third. After her first husband died, she married Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll. She was a governess to William III when he was a child. Mackenzie suffered because she was a Jacobite and her second husband was executed for leading a rising against James VII and II which was intended to support the Monmouth Rebellion. She worked to keep together the estates of Balcarres despite the tumultuous times in which she lived and her family's support of the Jacobite cause. She had several siblings, all of whom died young except for an elder sister, Jean (died 1648). Her parents died whilst Anna was a child.

After her father's death, in 1633, she resided at Leslie House, the seat of her cousin, Lord Rothes. There she was married in April 1640, against the wish of her uncle, then the head of the family, to another cousin, Alexander Lindsay, master of Balcarres, who became Lord Balcarres in the following year. She worked throughout her life to keep together the estates of Balcarres despite the tumultuous times in which she lived and her family's support of the Jacobite cause.

In 1647, her husband became responsible for Edinburgh Castle and in 1651, Charles II became the King of Scots and he promoted her husband to be the Earl of Balcarres. On 22 February 1651, the king paid the couple a visit shortly before the birth of her first child, to whom he became godfather. On the invasion after Worcester, she went with her husband to the Scottish Highlands, where he had command of the royalists. To pay for the debts incurred by Balcarres in the royal cause, she sold her jewels and other valuables, and many years of her subsequent life were spent in redeeming the ruin in which the Balcarres family had been involved.

Their support for the king resulted in their estates being seized. Her husband tried to raise a rebellion in Scotland, but in 1654 they were both summoned to France to assist the king. Leaving her own children in Scotland, Anna was chosen to be the governess of the future William III of England in the Hague in 1657. Between Anna, her husband, John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Kincardine, and Robert Moray there existed a close friendship, as well as family connection. After her husband's death at the Hague on 30 August 1659, her young son, Charles (1650–1662) became the Earl. Her son Charles died in October 1662, whereupon Colin succeeded as 3rd Earl of Balcarres. Her second marriage did not go well either and her husband was sentenced to death for high treason. He managed to escape to Holland due to the brave intervention of Anna's daughter, Sophia Lindsay, who smuggled him away disguised as one of her servants. It was said that Sophia only escaped a public whipping for helping her step-father because of the intercession of the future James II. Argyll was eventually executed, as his father had been before him.