Actor Russell Crowe reveals he is related to Scottish Jacobite

Actor Russell Crowe has revealed he is related to Scottish Jacobite Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat.

The Gladiator star said he has been investigating his family roots, and came across new ‘fascinating’ discoveries, including a Scottish connection.

On X, formerly Twitter, he told fans how he is related to Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat, a notorious Jacobite known as The Fox.

Outlander fans will recognise him as the grandfather of  Jamie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan in the TV show.

In 1747 he was condemned to death by the House of Lords and executed on Tower Hill for supporting the Jacobite Bonnie Prince Charlie, becoming the last man in Britain to be beheaded.

Thousands of spectators turned out to the event but one of the platforms is said to have collapsed moments before the execution, killing nine people.

It caused Fraser such amusement that he was laughing moments before his death and was still chuckling when the axe came down, coining the phrase ‘laughing his head off’.

‘On my fathers mothers side, via John (Jock) Fraser (arrived in NZ in 1841) we directly connect back to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat. Look him up. He’s quite the character,’ Russell said.

‘The Old Fox they used to call him seems his Machiavellian ways caught up to him at the age of 80, and he has a claim to infamy as the last man to have the head chopped off his living body in the Tower of London. His death even coined a phrase.

‘Apparently, they set up temporary stands for the gentry to watch him die one of these stands collapsed which resulted in the death of nine onlookers. 

‘Being told this just before he was put to death made him laugh. He was still laughing when the blade struck his neck, thereby “laughing his head off”.’

Fraser was sentenced to death for the first time in 1698 after he raped and forcibly married the widow of his late Scottish clan leader.

He escaped to France where he soon made contact with other exiled Stuarts.

In 1703 he returned to Scotland on a Jacobite mission where he betrayed to the Duke of Queensberry, leading to his imprisonment in France for 10 years.

He escaped in 1715 and returned to Scotland where he was granted a pardon but remained loyal to the Jacobites.

The rebellion was defeated at the battle of Culloden and Fraser was later captured and condemned to death.