He was the eldest son of
William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry and his wife Isabel Douglas, daughter of
William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas. His title before succeeding his father was
Lord Drumlanrig. Educated at the
University of Glasgow, he was appointed a
Scottish Privy Counsellor in 1684, and was lieutenant-colonel of
Dundee's
regiment of horse. He supported
William III in 1688 and was appointed colonel of the Scots Troop,
Horse Guards Regiment. On his father's death in 1695 he succeeded to several titles, including
2nd Duke of Queensberry. He was appointed
Lord High Treasurer of Scotland from 1693 and
Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1695 to 1702. In 1696 he was appointed as
Extraordinary Lord of Session. He was
Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland in 1700, 1702 and 1703, in which role he procured the abandonment of the
Darien scheme. He was appointed a
Knight of the Garter in 1701. On the accession of
Queen Anne in 1702, Douglas was appointed
Secretary of State, soon jointly with
George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie. Douglas encouraged the
Jacobites by his undecided attitude on
the question of the royal succession, and was deluded into unconsciously furthering the Jacobite designs of
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat. Lovat had used Queensberry's jealousy of
the Duke of Atholl to obtain a commission from him to get evidence in France which would implicate Atholl. The plot was betrayed to Atholl by
Robert Ferguson, and Douglas withdrew from government in 1704. Queensberry died at his house in
Albemarle Street, London, in 1711, of an "
iliack passion" (intestinal obstruction). He was later reburied with his wife Marie at
Durisdeer Parish Church in
Nithsdale.
Queensberry House in
Edinburgh is today part of the
Scottish Parliament Building. ==Family==