Despite his previous loyalty, after the Restoration of Charles II, Argyll fell under suspicion due to his hereditary judicial powers in the Highlands and his strong Presbyterian religious sympathies.

Condemned to death in 1681 on a highly dubious charge of treason and libel, he escaped from prison and fled into exile, where he began associating with Whig opponents of the Stuart regime.

[citation needed] At the age of four, an agreement was made, in accordance with a custom common amongst the Scottish nobility of the time, for young Archibald to be fostered with Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, one of his father's kinsmen.

[3] He enrolled at Glasgow University in 1643,[4] and between 1647 and 1649, his father sent him to travel in France and Italy, mainly to protect him from the political upheavals taking place in Scotland at the time.

[5] His father, as one of the most powerful nobles in Scotland, became heavily involved in the politics of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, emerging as the leader of the Presbyterian Covenanter party and as the de facto head of the Scottish government for much of the period.

[citation needed] While still on the Continent, young Archibald heard the news of the execution of King Charles I, and wrote to Queen Henrietta Maria assuring her of his loyalty to the Stuart dynasty.

[6] In 1650, after his return to Scotland, Lorne married Mary, the daughter of James Stuart, 4th Earl of Moray: the same year he was appointed to the governing Committee of Estates, his first major position of responsibility.

A correspondent of John Thurloe reported a version of events more discreditable to Lorne: that the intercepted letter was written to the general of the English forces, suggesting a plan for attacking Glencairn's men.

[7] On 31 March, Lorne eventually received instructions from Charles, through Middleton, in which he was urged to lose no time in taking such a course, by capitulation or otherwise, as he should judge "most fit and expedient to save his person, family, and estate."

However, when his father, the Marquess, followed him hoping for a reconciliation with Charles he was arrested: as a result of his role in the Civil War, he was executed in May 1661 for treason and his estates forfeit.

[4] Despite Lorne's history of loyalty to Charles, he had powerful enemies at Court, and fifteen months after his father's death, was himself threatened with beheading over a charge of "leasing making" (a form of libel).

He devoted a great deal of attention to planning the gardens at Inveraray, and was particularly interested in tree raising and planting, seeking advice from John Evelyn on the subject.

After their rout the leaders of the rebels tried to reach the west coast to cross over to Ireland, and on 14 December, Argyll received instructions from the Privy Council to capture them if possible.

[7] On 12 April 1679, in consequence of the Popish Plot allegations in England, Argyll received a special commission to secure the Highlands and to disarm all Catholics, particularly the Macleans and Macdonalds.

[15] However, in the interim severe disorder broke out amongst the Covenanters of southern Scotland following their assassination of Argyll's old opponent Archbishop Sharp, culminating in an effective open rebellion and the Battle of Drumclog.

Given Argyll's previous moderate treatment of the Covenanters, the Privy Council debated cancelling his commission and he was ordered to report with as many men as he could raise to the camp of the Earl of Linlithgow, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal forces.

[15] By this point, Argyll was in a difficult position: not only did his Presbyterian sympathies (not to mention those of his late father) make him suspect to the Court party, but his heritable jurisdictions and personal power in the west of Scotland, as the head of Clan Campbell, made him a constant threat to the King's authority.

The same month, James paid a solemn visit of ceremony to Argyll at Stirling, and directly asked him if he would convert to Catholicism, promising him great influence in Scotland if he did.

[7][17] Argyll complained about the substance of the Act, noting its internal contradictions in that it upheld Presbyterianism while committing subjects to follow the monarch's authority in religion, and concerned that the Royal Family themselves – given their Catholic leanings – were not obliged to take it.

On 20 December, however, his stepdaughter Sophia Lindsay obtained leave to visit him; she brought with her a countryman as a page, dressed in a wig and with his head bound up as if he had been in a fight.

He first went to the house of George Pringle of Torwoodlee, who had arranged for the escape, and by him was conducted to William Veitch, in Northumberland, who in turn brought him, travelling under the name "Mr. Hope", to London.

[21] In the autumn of 1682 the government received information that he was involved in treasonable activities: efforts to locate him were renewed, and he fled to Holland, where many Whig exiles were gathering.

In October Preston wrote from Paris, informing Halifax that Argyll had his agents in France, and added his belief that he had, after consultation with his friends in Holland, gone back to Scotland.

[7] Instructors at Benmore Outdoor Centre maintain that Scots law meant that the forfeit estates could not be transferred without the documents, which were supposedly concealed in the Paper Caves in the hillside adjacent to Loch Eck.

On the news of Charles II's death and the accession of James VII as king, he moved from Friesland to Rotterdam, and was present at a meeting of Scots in Amsterdam on 17 April 1685, at which an immediate invasion of Scotland was decided on.

[citation needed] The rebels marched to Tarbert, where Argyll sent out a second declaration: he denied the statements of his enemies that he had come for private advantage, and promised to pay both his father's debts and his own.

[7] While he seems to have expected widespread support from the Covenanters and their sympathisers, many of the more militant Presbyterians had been angered by Argyll's involvement in the trial and execution of one of their leaders, Donald Cargill, and the majority of men who eventually joined the rebellion were Campbell clansmen.

It crossed to the south side of the River Clyde at Renfrew by Kilpatrick ford, dwindling from two thousand to five hundred men; and after one or two skirmishes with the troops commanded by Rosse and William Cleland, Argyll found himself alone with his son John and three personal friends.

[7] Lauderdale said that he had habits of winking his eye as he spoke and of holding his thumb in the palm of his hand, both of which were supposed to be "ill signs" prophetic of his violent fate.

Airy noted that Argyll's correspondence on the death of his first wife was "touching",[7] and Andrew Lang wrote that his unpublished private letters showed him to be a "man of singularly affectionate character and tender heart",[26] adding that his conduct at his execution demonstrated great personal bravery.