He became Lord High Sheriff of Forfar.
However he was unable to join in public life.
In 1596 his son Patrick, Master of Gray, wrote that his father had been summoned to the court at Linlithgow Palace but everyone known of his "inhabilitie".
[1] On Monday 3 May 1598 the brother of Anne of Denmark, the Duke of Holstein, came to Gray's castle at Fowlis for dinner during his progress.
Lord Gray was ordered by James VI of Scotland to meet him and escort him for six miles.