Heir Presumptive
Albany was his whole life the next heir of the Kingdom of Scotland after male members of the king's immediate family, due to stipulations of the Semi-Salic succession order enacted by Robert II of Scotland which favored male agnates over all females of the Royal House of Stewart. The sons of the immediate royal family proved to be short-lived except Albany's first cousins James, Duke of Ross, James IV of Scotland and the latter's son the future James V of Scotland (who died in 1542, only five years after Albany).
Thus Albany was from 1504 onwards either the heir presumptive or the second-in-line to the throne of Kingdom of Scotland. After 1504, despite which minor was heir in front of him, Albany was always the closest heir who was not underage. During the minority of King James V of Scotland, Albany acted as regent intermittently between 1514 and 1524.
On 8 July 1505 the young Albany married his first cousin Anne, Countess of Auvergne and Lauraguais (eldest daughter and heiress of Albany's maternal uncle John III, Count of Auvergne who had died in 1501). Thus John started to enjoy the position and rights of Count of Auvergne and Lauraguais in France, until Anne's death in 1524. A manuscript detailing her estate with pictures of her castles still exists (see references).
Albany's mother Anne, Countess of La Chambre, died on 13 October 1512. (The stepfather, Louis de La Chambre, lived until 1517.)
Read more about this topic: John Stewart, Duke Of Albany
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“Is it not strange, that an infant should be heir of the whole world, and see those mysteries which the books of the learned never unfold?”
—Thomas Traherne (1636–1674)