Jacobite supporter of James II of England and of James Edward, the Old Pretender.

Eldest son of the 1st Earl, he held several offices under Charles II and James II, being envoy extraordinary at Vienna and afterwards joint secretary for Scotland. In 1684 he became an English secretary of state, and with Richard Graham, Viscount Preston, he had the difficult task of managing the House of Commons for James II. He was loyal to James after the King fled to France, although he remained in England, where, as the leader of the moderate Jacobites, he sought to bring about a restoration by peaceful means.

In 1693 the Earl joined the exiled King at Saint-Germain, where he became his secretary of state; afterwards he held the same office at the court of James Edward, the Old Pretender, in Flanders and in Lorraine. He was partly responsible for the unsuccessful expedition of the Jacobites to Scotland in 1707, and he resigned his office as secretary in 1713. Middleton had been created earl of Monmouth by the Pretender, for his titles in Britain had been declared forfeited in 1695. The Earl had been a Protestant, although a lukewarm one, until 1701, when he yielded to the dying wish of James II and joined the Roman Catholic Church.