Both his parents died when he was young, and he was brought up from the age of six at Castle Leod by his uncle and guardian, Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat.
One historian has described this as ‘a sort of genetic kidnap’[1] of the chiefly authority, in order to expand the power of the Clan Mackenzie into the adjacent Fraser lands.
Instead of the usual situation of a cadet branch taking over the lordship in the absence of a male heir, the estates and title of Lovat would instead go to the eldest daughter.
It was a possible means for a man from any clan to assume control of the Lovat estates simply by legally adopting the Fraser name.
[4] In 1696, the year his last son John died, he repudiated the unusual proviso of his marriage contract with Amelia Murray as having been made under duress, and he assigned the succession to his cousin, Thomas Fraser.