He was captured at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547, and held in the Tower of London but in autumn 1548 he was released when a ransom was delivered by Robert Carnegie, Lord Kinnaird.
[4] Mary, Queen of Scots, toured the north-east in August 1562, and was refused entry to Inverness Castle on Gordon's orders.
He marched on Aberdeen but was defeated by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray at the Battle of Corrichie in October 1562.
[5] On 27 March 1530, he married Elizabeth Keith, daughter of Robert Keith, Master of Marischal, by whom he had nine sons and three daughters, including; A letter from Edward Stanhope to the Earl of Essex, dated 6 December 1598, describes Richard Rutherford of Hunthill as "cousin german to Earl Huntly".
[8] If Stanhope was correct, then it appears George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, fathered an additional daughter: