Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar

[1] Upon his father's death on 1 February 1597, Edward Coke, the Attorney General, was appointed his guardian, by Lord Burghley, master of the Court of Wards.

[1] In 1622, Sir Walter was sent to Madrid as the resident ambassador to the Spanish court to negotiate a marriage between Charles, the Prince of Wales, and the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain and also provisions for joint naval operations to patrol and suppress piracy.

[1] The Prince of Wales (the future Charles I of England), accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham, arrived at the Spanish court in 1623 unannounced: his overtures to the Infanta were rejected and so the marriage proposal fell through.

To make amends Charles arranged that he be elevated to the Scottish peerage on 28 November 1627, as Baron Forfar in county Angus, and gave him a bond of £1000 to buy land in Scotland.

[1] This largesse did not totally satisfy Lord Forfar who grumbled to Secretary Conway that it would have been better if the barony had been in recognition of "the ancient house of Tixall".