Suo jure is a Latin phrase meaning in his/her own right.
The idea for Thea as a countess in her own right and the challenge to her title comes from the real Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, the 19th Countess of Sutherland. In 1771, the countess had to defend her rights against a male relative, Sir Robert Gordon, 4th Baronet, who claimed the Scottish earldom should be his.
An infant when she inherited, Elizabeth had not one, but six stalwart guardians, including the Duke of Athol and the Earl of Elgin, along with her solicitors, who helped defend her title in the House of Lords. Typically, only the solicitors were present making the claims and defenses. However, to make the story more interesting, Will and the entire Cavensham family had to be in attendance because there was no way they would let Thea face this alone. She was one of them.
Like Thea’s charter, the original “patent of the honour” bestowing the Earldom of Sutherland couldn’t be found, so the entire history of the title’s passage had to be resurrected and presented. Why did Elizabeth’s challenger lose? His family trees consisted of several bastards. The original patent of the Earldom of Sutherland stated that it went to “Heirs of the Marriage,” meaning any titleholder had to be legitimate.
However, not everything in the Countess of Sutherland’s life was a storybook romance with a happy ending. In September of 1785, Elizabeth married George Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham, the son of the 1st Marquess of Stafford. In 1833, he was named the Duke of Sutherland. They are best remembered for the Highland Scottish Clearances where they uprooted over fifteen thousand tenants and subtenants from their lands and relocated them to the coasts of Scotland. Elizabeth and her husband wanted more pasture for sheep, as did many of the landowners in the highlands and the outer islands of Scotland. It’s been reported that over 150,000 tenants were forced from their ancestral lands during the hundred years when the Scottish Clearances took place. A devastating fact when you consider that number meant that over fifty percent of the area’s population was uprooted during that time. Elizabeth’s name was forever tainted when her land steward faced murder charges after he set fire to one of the cottages with an elderly woman inside.
One can easily see why Thea was adamant that the Duke of Ferr-Colby not succeed in removing the Ladykyrk tenants. Thankfully, in Rogue Most Wanted, the charter is recovered. Lucky for Will, Thea found the charter, so they could live their fairytale. Lucky for Thea, she had Will’s heart completely, decidedly, and forever.
For more information on Elizabeth’s defense of her title, see the transcript and the evidence presented to the House of Lords in The Additional Case of Elisabeth, Claiming the Title and Dignity of Countess of Sutherland, by her Guardians, Case of Sir Robert Gordon, bart. (claiming the title, honour, and dignity of) Earl of Sutherland, and Peerage Law in England: A Practical Treatise for Lawyers and Laymen. With an Appendix of Peerage Charters and Letters Patent. By Frances Beaufort Palmer.