The New Murrey and Blue blog

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, was the last man to be beheaded in Great Britain, in April 1747 following his arrest at the battle of Culloden. Lovat, who was about eighty, had backed both the Orange-Hanoverian and Jacobite causes alternately over the years. Of course, until 1973, anyone convicted of high treason could opt to be executed by decapitation but nobody did, taking their chances with the common hangman instead.

Now Russell Crowe has revealed that he, together with his cousins Jeff and the late Martin are descended from this Lord Lovat through their paternal grandmother, although subsequent title holders are not. I cannot yet find such direct descent.