Alexander Clark of Balbirnie

In November 1560 Clark was in Paris, an archer of the Scottish Guard, and a friend of the English ambassador Nicholas Throckmorton.

He obtained permission to return to Scotland with a Scottish ambassador Lord Seton, and Throckmorton gave him a letter for William Cecil in London, recommending his services.

He said that Lord Seton had been invited to an audience in France with Francis, Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lorraine and two military engineers or "devisers of forts".

[3] In April 1565 he was one of the first to see Roman remains discovered at Inveresk near Musselburgh and described a hypocaust and carved stones to Thomas Randolph.

[8] In that year, Clark corresponded with Regent Moray's widow, Agnes or Annas Keith about books she wished to purchase in Edinburgh.

An English diplomat, Robert Bowes claimed the merchants backed another candidate who would support the English-leaning Ruthven regime.

In April 1584 the king's valet John Gibb delivered a royal jewel, a tablet or locket with a diamond and an emerald, to Clark, as a pledge for a loan of 6,000 merks.

[15] It was delivered by Clark's son-in-law John Provand to William Fairlie, who commissioned the goldsmith David Gilbert to refashion and upgrade it, and it was presented to Anne of Denmark during her Entry to Edinburgh in May 1590.