HOLY SHIT THIS IS GOOD. I am so happy that there are always real characters in BS fanfics! aljskdalksdjasd DO TELL ME ALL!

*rubs hands together in glee* Ok! So – we have to start off with Thomas’ grandfather, Sir James Hamilton, the 1st Duke of Hamilton. James, as it happens, died without leaving a male heir. He had a daughter, though – Anne (Archibald Hamilton’s mother), and a brother, William. When James Hamilton (yes, I know, I made that noise too) died, the dukedom went to his brother William. William died in 1751 during the last battle of the English Civil War – without leaving a male heir. Anne took the title as James’ surviving eldest child – but what if William had had a male heir, only that heir was born AFTER William died? 

It’s well within the realm of possibility – William wasn’t old when he died, he was only 35, and if his only son had been born, say – two months or so after he died, possibly a little longer – it’s well possible that the family, scrambling to a. protect the child and b. recoup their losses after the war went against them, would have settled the title on Anne, thereby giving the Parliamentarians no reason to come after young Alfred – and no reason to come after Anne, because she was a woman and they would have hesitated to have her imprisoned as they would have a male heir to the title. When Charles II came back to the country, the matter of the title would already have been settled – and Alfred would be neatly out of a title that should, by all rights, have passed to him had things worked out differently. It makes sense that a certain amount of money – a lot of it – and the title of Earl would have been given to Alfred to offset the loss of the larger estate and the title, but he probably would have spent the rest of his life feeling cheated of both, which helps to explain part of why he’s such a massive prick.

Also, all of this plays nicely into my theory of how Alfred is a Jacobite, because his family was well known for their sympathies, and if his father died fighting the English Parliament, he’d be anything but sympathetic toward the people that booted James II off the throne and put his daughter and son-in-law on the throne instead. And if Alfred was a Jacobite, that explains why he went so nuclear on his own son when there was the hint of political scandal attached to his proposal for Nassau – Alfred wouldn’t have wanted anyone looking too closely at his personal affairs if he was committing treason in his spare time.