[1][2] Robert "Farfan" had a sister Alice, who married William II de Percy, 3rd feudal baron of Topcliffe (d. 1174/5), and left two daughters Maud and Agnes as co-heiresses.

He witnessed the King's charters, served in his armies, went on diplomatic missions for him (one in 1199 to Ros's father-in-law in Scotland), and on one occasion was reported gambling with him in Ireland.

But he re-entered secular life the next year, when the King made him sheriff of Cumberland and appointed him to a commission investigating grievances in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

In the latter county, he worked for a reconciliation between John and William de Forz, heir to the extensive estates there of Hawise, Countess of Aumale.

However he then joined the rebel barons as one of the 25 chosen to enforce observance of Magna Carta, being appointed by them to control Yorkshire and possibly Northumberland.

Intermittent unrest in Yorkshire continued, with fighting in 1220 between his men and those of the sheriff,[1] followed in 1221 with him being summoned to help take and destroy Skipsea Castle during the rebellion of William de Forz.

[2] Early in 1191, at Haddington near Edinburgh, he married Isabella, widow of Robert III de Brus and illegitimate daughter of William I "the Lion", King of Scotland.