Robert Mackay was a Scottish aristocrat and father of Alexander Mackay, a soldier in the service of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. Living in Edinburgh, Robert was paralyzed from the waist down after falling off his horse while hunting. This had happened a few months before he was reunited with his son, and met his new daughter-in-law Julie and his granddaughter Alexi. The senior Mackay received a great deal of medical care, including some treatment from the up-timer Julie. Robert and his family generally took a favorable view towards his son's new family.