The peerage title of Earl of Aboyne was originally created in September 1660 for Lord Charles Gordon.
Charles Gordon's great-great-grandson, the 5th Earl, eventually succeeded to the higher title of Marquess of Huntly in 1836.
Since then, the peerage earldom of Aboyne has been a subsidiary title held by the holder of the marquessate.
[2] There is some contemporaneous evidence that suggests the title may have originally been created during the Civil War for Viscount Aboyne.
However, this alleged prior creation is not substantiated in the primary sources on British and Scottish peerage.