The first Stewart king
Robert II was crowned at Scone on 26 March 1371, becoming the first Stewart (later Stuart) king of Scotland. He was 55 years old — elderly by medieval standards — and had waited decades for the crown. His grandson of Robert the Bruce through Bruce's daughter Marjorie, Robert Stewart had served as Guardian of Scotland during David II's long imprisonment in England.
Robert II was not a warrior-king in the mould of Bruce. He preferred diplomacy and delegation, and his reign was characterised more by stability than glory. He fathered at least 21 children (many illegitimate), creating a vast web of Stewart connections that bound the great families of Scotland to the crown. This network of kinship and patronage was the foundation of Stewart power for the next three centuries.
The Stewart dynasty would prove to be one of the most dramatic royal houses in European history. Robert II's descendants included James IV (who died at Flodden), Mary Queen of Scots (executed by Elizabeth I), James VI (who united the Scottish and English crowns), and Charles I (who lost his head in the English Civil War). The dynasty's final chapter was the Jacobite cause — the attempt to restore the exiled Stuart line — which ended in blood at Culloden in 1746.
The name Stewart comes from the family's hereditary role as High Stewards of Scotland. Mary Queen of Scots adopted the French spelling "Stuart" during her time in France, and this became the standard form. The dynasty ruled Scotland for 343 years, longer than any other.