John, Lord of the Isles (died 1387), fourth in succession from Donald
progenitor of the clan, had two wives: (1) Amy MacRuari; (2) the
Princess Margaret, daughter of Robert II., to marry whom he repudiated
or divorced Amy. The lordship of the Isles went to the descendants of
the Princess. The hereditary clan chiefship, which ordinarily descends
to the senior heir-male, did not necessarily follow the title. The
lordship of the Isles was taken from the Macdonalds and annexed to
the Crown in 1494, and the question who is supreme hereditary chief
of Clan Donald has ever since been a matter of strife. Glengarry and
Clanranald descend from Amy MacRuari, the first wife, and are therefore
senior in blood, but it is doubtful which of these two families is the
elder; last century the general preference was for Glengarry, but the
new _Scots Peerage_ and the Clan Donald historian favour Clanranald.
Sleat and Keppoch descend from the Princess Margaret, Sleat coming
from Hugh, third son of Alexander, Lord of the Isles (died 1449),
grandson of John, and son of Donald of Harlaw, while Keppoch comes
from the fourth son of John and Princess Margaret, and could only have
a claim if there were a flaw in the pedigree of Sleat. Doubts have
been expressed of the legitimacy of Hugh of Sleat, but these have been
set aside. Glencoe’s progenitor was Ian, son of Angus Og (died 1330),
Bruce’s friend who fought at Bannockburn, the father of John, Lord of
the Isles, mentioned above, but the Seannachies have pronounced him
illegitimate. From this Ian the Glencoe clan has been known as MacIan
for centuries.
It is interesting to know that in the summer of 1911, the three
hereditary heads of the families having serious claims on the supreme
chiefship of the clan, Glengarry, Clanranald, and Sleat (Sir Alexander
of the Isles), signed an indenture mutually agreeing to cease from
active assertion of their claims, and that in the event of more than
one of them being present with the clan, precedence for the occasion
would be decided by lot.