James Douglas, 7th of Drumlanrig

[2] By doing so, she invalidated her position as tutrix (guardian) to her son, and this led to a tussle between her and the governor of the king's council, the pro-French John Stewart, Duke of Albany, over guardianship of the child.

Eventually her hasty marriage to the Earl of Angus was to devolve into a ‘long, acrimonious and very public separation’, ending in divorce.

Despite his efforts two years previously to rescue him, Drumlanrig was considered by the new king ‘as one of a dangerous family’[6] and he was warded in Edinburgh Castle.

His return to favour after this year is apparent in the number of concessions granted to him by the government, acting in the name of Mary, Queen of Scots, who had left for France in 1548.

Along with John Knox, Drumlanrig had signed the First Book of Discipline in Edinburgh this same year,[7] described by a later historian as ‘an owner’s manual for the new religion’.

[6]Two years later, after the death of Mary Queen of Scot's husband Lord Darnley (a relation of Drumlanrig's wife Margaret), and Mary's quick remarriage to the Earl of Bothwell, Drumlanrig again joined the Protestant ‘Confederate Lords’ in revolt.This saw her (much smaller) army capitulate without a fight at Carberry Hill in June 1567.

[10] The Queen later spoke bitterly about both Drumlanrig and his son William, describing them as ‘hell houndis, bludy tyrantis without saullis or feir of God’.

Whilst in prison, he wrote a touching letter to his son, whose fate he was unsure of.Willie, Thou sall wit that I am haill and feare.