Scottish Aristocracy. Born the second son of Thomas Fraser, he was raised at the family seat of Castle Downie and educated at Kings College, Aberdeen. In 1697, after the death of his brother, the 9th Lord Lovat, Simon Fraser kidnapped and forced a wedding on the late Lord's widow. Lady Lovat's powerful family were infuriated and their pursuit forced him to flee the country. He spent six years on the Continent, traveling and paying frequent visits to the Jacobite court in exile, even going so far as to convert to Catholicism in order to ingratiate himself with the Jacobite leadership. Lovat was instrumental in introducing the Jacobites to the Highlander as the only group accustomed to the independent use of arms in Britain. The Highlanders, however, showed minimal interest in rising during the 1715. Apparently Lovat realized this very early and removed himself from any action, though he wrote to both sides and continued to ingratiate himself. The sitting government rewarded him by issuing a pardon for his past crimes. For the next two decades he became entagled in Jacobite and anti-Jacobite intrigues and lawsuits for the recovery of his estates and the re-establishment of his fortune. In 1724, his suggestion for raising Highland Independent companies was acted upon and he was given command of one such. In 1733 he finally won his legal battles as well as the title of 11th Lord Lovat. He became known as ‘the Fox' and ‘the most devious man in Scotland'. When Charles Edward once more pressed the Stewart cause in 1745, Lovat adopted a wait and see policy while still corresponding with government agents. By October 1745, however, he forced his son, under threat of disinheritance, into the field on the Jacobite side with 500 Frasers under his command. After the slaughter of Highlanders at Culloden, Lovat and Charles Edward met for the only time at Lovat's house on Loch Mhor, where Lovat advised Charles Edward to withdraw to France. Both men then fled government forces. Lovat was captured after he was found hiding in a hollow tree. Old and infirm, he was taken by litter to London where he was committed to the Tower. After a trial of five days, he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. On the morning of his execution, Lovat had to be assisted up the steps to the scaffold by two warders. Lovat commented on the crowd which had gathered to witness his end, "God save us, why should there be such a bustle about taking off an old grey head, that cannot get up three steps without three bodies to support it?" He then asked the executioner to allow him to test the edge of the blade and expressed the opinion that it would do. He was then beheaded on Tower Hill, becoming the last man in Britain to die so, his titles forfeit. The attainder of the 11th Lord Lovat was not be reversed until 1854.