Although his father left the estates heavily encumbered by reason of the great expense of several embassies and of his losses suffered by adhering to the Queen's party, yet by prudence and ability he was soon able to put his affairs in good condition and provide both sons and daughters with respectable fortunes.

[3] Balthasar Fuchs von Bimbach came to the baptism with the Danish ambassadors and kept an Album Amicorum, a kind of autograph book, recording the people he met, including Seton.

[4] When James VI planned to visit the west and the islands of Scotland in August 1598, Lord Seton was made convenor of the Privy Council.

In 1582, Lord Seton married Lady Margaret Montgomerie, eldest daughter of Hugh Montgomerie, 3rd Earl of Eglinton, by whom he had five sons and a daughter:[7] In his Latter-Will, dated 28 February 1603, the Earl wrote, "My body to be buried whole in most humble, quiet, modest, and Christian manner without all extraordinary pomp or unlawful ceremony, within my College Church of Seton among my progenitors of worthy memory."

The Seton’s were one of the oldest and proudest families of Scotland; and that lord, whose mortal remains now passed by, had been a faithful adherent of the kings mother: whose banner he had never deserted, and in whose cause he had suffered exile and proscription.

As the mourners moved slowly onward, the monarch himself, participating in these melancholy feelings, sat down by the way-side, on a stone still pointed out to the historical pilgrim; nor did he resume his progress till the gloomy procession had completely disappeared.