A contemporary provided the following summary:He is an Erle of small power, havinge but few gentlemen of his surname except the Larde of Fyntra situate in the Leuenax and dwellinge in the north.
[2] The English politician Sir Robert Cecil noted that Montrose was a supporter of the Earl of Huntly in the "slaughter of Moray".
Soon after when he was at Holyrood Palace speaking with Anne of Denmark in her chamber, they were interrupted by James Forman, an Edinburgh burgess, who complained about various policies and a tax on wine and criticised the comptroller David Murray and the king.
Although Mar claimed they were "movers and enticers of her highness to that enterprise, they themselves by oaths protest, that they had no intention at all, except her grace's convoy, being required by her missives thereto".
[9] Montrose arranged and paid for the accommodation in John Kinloch's house in the Canongate for some of the English ladies who had come to meet Anne of Denmark.