James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran (c. 1516–1575) was a Scottish Nobleman and the second son of James, 1st Earl of Arran.

Through his paternal grandmother Mary of Scotland, Hamilton was the great grandson of James II of Scotland. On the death of James Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany in 1536, Arran became the next heir of the Kingdom of Scotland after the king's immediate family.

The children of the immediate royal family proved to be short-lived except the future Mary, Queen of Scots, so on the death of James V of Scotland in 1542 the Earl of Arran stood next in line to the Scottish throne after the baby Queen Mary, for whom he was appointed Regent.

Initially a Protestant and a member of the pro-English party, in 1543 he was involved in negotiating the marriage of the Queen of Scots to the infant Prince Edward (the future Edward VI). Shortly after, however, he became a Catholic and joined the pro-French faction, consenting to the marriage of the Queen to the French Dauphin, later Francis II. In 1548, the Queen of Scots went to live in the French court. For his work on negotiating the marriage, Hamilton was given the French title of Duc de Châtellerault.

In 1554, Arran surrendered the regency to Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots' mother. Hamilton gave up the Regency on the condition that he would be next in line after Queen Mary, if she died childless. But Scottish succession had been secretly promised to France.

Hamilton changed allegiance again in 1559, joining the Protestant 'Lords of the Congregation' to oppose the regency of Mary of Guise, and losing his French dukedom as a result. When Francis II died in 1560 Hamilton attempted, without success, to arrange for his son James to marry the young widowed Queen Mary.

His support swung between Mary and the 'Lords of the Congregation', depending on how he saw his advantage, but after Mary married Lord Darnley in 1565 he withdrew to his estates in France. In 1569, he returned to Scotland and was imprisoned until, in 1573, he agreed to recognise Mary's infant James as the future King of Scotland.