Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie

James VI married Anne of Denmark by proxy in 1589 and while waiting for his bride to come to Scotland, wrote a series of poems in Scots now known as the Amatoria.

[3] In November 1592 Erskine was identified with the friends of Duke of Lennox, Sir George Home, Colonel William Stewart, the Laird of Dunipace, and James Sandilands, as a supporter of the king's former favourite James Stewart, Earl of Arran, working for his rehabilitation to the disadvantage of the Chancellor, John Maitland and the Hamilton family.

[7] He was with the king on the occasion of the Gowrie Conspiracy in 1600, when James rode from Falkland Palace to the house of the Ruthven brothers in Perth, where he was supposedly to be kidnapped or assassinated.

James VI maintained a "secret correspondence" with some of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, hoping thereby to facilitate his succession to the throne of England.

A letter to Sir Robert Cecil was sealed with Erskine's heraldry, and his initials as "T. A" for Thomas Areskine.

Lady Anne Clifford described a visit to the king at Theobalds in May 1603, noting that the fashion of the court had changed, "we were all lowzy by sittinge in Sir Thomas Erskin's chamber.

"[10] The French ambassador the Marquis de Rosny identified Erskine as an influential courtier, and gave him a hatbadge or enseigne in the form of a gold heart set with diamonds.

On 10 August 1604, when King James was away from London at the hunt, he sent Erskine from Bletsoe to greet the Spanish ambassador, Juan Fernández de Velasco y Tovar, 5th Duke of Frías, Constable of Castile, and apologize for his absence.

When the Dutch ambassador Noel Caron came to Theobalds on 16 March 1616, he waited first in Lord Fenton's lodging before seeing King James in the Privy Gallery.

In June 1616, George Erskine sent a letter written in Italian to Anne of Denmark, trying to prevent Fenton obtaining a "tack" of lands at Carnbee, beside Kellie Castle.