His father, the Master of Ogilvy, was killed in 1547 at the Battle of Pinkie and his mother became the tutor to her children.
[2] In April 1587 Ogilvy wrote to Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch recommending his servant Robert Bruce to join an embassy to Denmark, because they had both recently been in Denmark.
[3] James VI was invited to Denmark in May 1596 by the ambassador Steen Bille to attend the coronation of his brother-in-law Christian IV.
He appointed Lord Ogilvy and Peter Young as his ambassadors to go in his place, because his wife Anne of Denmark was pregnant, and they were accredited by Christian IV in a letter dated 6 August 1596.
As well as offering James's good wishes, and apologising for the absence of James and Anne of Denmark, they were to ask for ships and troops for a mission planned against the Western islanders of Scotland in 1597.