[3] James Stuart, seventh in descent from the Black Stewart, was created a Baronet, of Bute, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia on 28 March 1627.

On 14 April 1703, he was raised to the Peerage of Scotland as Earl of Bute, Viscount of Kingarth, and Lord Mount Stuart, Cumra and Inchmarnock.

He was succeeded by his son, the 2nd Earl of Bute and 4th Baronet, who sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish representative peer and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Buteshire.

In 1796, he was further honoured when he was created Earl of Windsor and Viscount Mountjoy, in the Isle of Wight, revivals of the titles once held by his wife's family, and Marquess of Bute.

Lord William Stuart, fourth son of the first Marquess, was a captain in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament.

Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, second son of the third Marquess, was also Member of Parliament for Cardiff before his early death in the First World War.

Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart, third and youngest son of the third Marquess, sat as Member of Parliament for Northwich for many years.

The Earls and Marquesses of Bute originally used the courtesy title Lord Mount Stuart for the heir apparent.

Subsequently, the seventh Marquess became known as John or Johnny Bute and his heir adopted Jack Dumfries for short.

Over the dexter Crest: GOD SEND GRACE, Over the sinister Crest: Avito viret honore (To flourish in an honourable ancestry) Mount Stuart House is the seat of the family of the Stuarts of Bute, on land which has been in the family since 1157, on the Isle of Bute.

A new Victorian Mount Stuart House was then built[10] and was the first in Scotland to have electric lighting throughout, as well as having the world's first heated pool.

[16] Because of maintenance problems, in 2003 the 7th Marquess decided to sell Dumfries House and to send the contents to auction.

However, Charles III, (then)-Prince of Wales was able to arrange for the sale of the house, its contents, and its 2000-acre estate to a consortium of organisations, including the Scottish government, the Art Fund, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Monument Trust, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and Save Britain's Heritage.

[17][18] The 3rd Marquess worked with the architect William Burges in creating two Gothic revival castles in south Wales.

Within the two towers one of which is a clock, he also designed expert interiors, with murals, stained glass, marble, gilding and elaborate wood carvings.

[21] The 2nd Marquess carried out exploration for iron ore at Castell Coch in 1827 and considered establishing an ironworks there.

[22] The 3rd Marquess of Bute, another John Crichton-Stuart, inherited Castell Coch and the family estates as a child in 1848.

[23][24] On his coming of age, Bute's landed estates and industrial inheritance made him one of the wealthiest men in the world.

[25] In 1850 the antiquarian George Clark surveyed Castell Coch and published his findings, the first major scholarly work about the castle.

[27][28] The heir presumptive to the Earldom of Dumfries is Lady Caroline Crichton-Stuart (born 1984), eldest daughter of the 7th Marquess.