His death in France after making arrangements for the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots was regarded as suspicious by contemporaries.
[5] [1] About the same time, he was appointed guardian of the East and Middle Marches, and invested with power of justiciary within his jurisdictions.
James Fleming was one of the eight commissioners elected by parliament 8 December 1557, to represent the Scottish nation at the nuptials of Queen Mary with Francis, dauphin of France, on 24 April 1558.
They were thereupon requested to support this proposal in the Scottish parliament, but when they left for Scotland, the French court appears to have been doubtful of the intentions of certain members of the commission.
The Earls of Rothes and Cassilis and Bishop Reid of Orkney succumbed sooner to the attack than Fleming, who, in the hope of recovery, returned to Paris, but died there on 18 December 1558, at age 24.