The Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland was the monarch of Scotland's personal representative to the Parliament of Scotland. From the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603, a Lord High Commissioner was appointed from among the senior nobility to represent the Scottish monarch in parliament when he or she was absent, as was usually the case up to 1707. The Act of Union 1707, which merged the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England to create the Parliament of Great Britain, rendered the post redundant.
The Lord High Commissioner represented Crown authority and sat on the throne within the parliamentary chamber. The Commissioner gave royal assent to all acts of parliament by touching the final copy of each act with the sceptre. They were the custodian of the Crown's legislative agenda and were effectively the heads of government in Scotland during this period.
List of Lords High Commissioner Image Name Tenure John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose 1605 Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox 1607 George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal 1609 Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline 1612 James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton 1621 John Stewart, 1st Earl of Traquair 1639 John Elphinstone, 2nd Lord Balmerino 1641 James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton 1646 John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton 1661, 1662 John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes 1663, 1665, 1667 John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale 1669, 1670, 1672,1673, 1674, 1678 James, Duke of Albany (later James VII) 1681 William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry 1685 Alexander Stuart, 5th Earl of Moray 1686 William Douglas, Duke of Hamilton 1689 George Melville, 1st Earl of Melville 1690 William Douglas, Duke of Hamilton 1693 John Hay, 1st Marquess of Tweeddale 1695 John Murray, Earl of Tullibardine 1696 Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont 1698 James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry 1700, 1702, 1703 John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale 1704 John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll 1705 James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry 1706 - 1707
References
See also Commissioner (Scottish Parliament) Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Lord Chancellor of Scotland