James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

At times a supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570.[5] In May 1553, the imperial ambassador to England, Jean Scheyfve, heard that Mary of Guise planned to make him regent in place of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault.On 31 August 1566, Moray wrote from Stirling Castle to the treasurer Robert Richardson to ensure Nichola Wardlaw, one of the queen's gentlewomen, received a velvet gown for her wedding day.He avoided the entanglements of Mary's disastrous marriage to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, which followed the Darnley murder by mere weeks, by removing himself to France.[23] He was appointed Regent of Scotland on 22 August for the infant King James VI (born 19 June 1566), son of Queen Mary and Lord Darnley.[12] For the subsequent management of the kingdom without Mary as queen, he secured both civil and ecclesiastical peace and earned the title of "The Gude Regent".Moray moved against the supporters of Queen Mary in their south-west homelands with a military expedition in June 1568 called the 'Raid of Dumfries' or 'Raid of Hoddom.'The army was protected by a scouting party led by Alexander Hume of Manderston, and the vanguard was commanded by the Earl of Morton and Lord Home.Scrope estimated the army to number 6,000 men and returned to Carlisle, where he saw Queen Mary's servants play football on 14 June.Moray then took Lochmaben Castle, which the Laird of Drumlanrig was left to hold, and then captured Lochwood and Lochhouse before returning to Edinburgh via Peebles.[31] Moray was responsible for the destruction of Rutherglen castle, which he burned to the ground in 1569 in retribution against the Hamiltons for having supported Mary at the Battle of Langside.At Dunnotar Castle, he proclaimed that he had "reparit (arrived) in proper person (as Regent) to thir north partis of firm purpose and deliberation to reduce sic as hes neglectit their duty in time bypast ... intending to use lenitie (leniency) and moderation.Seven earls and lords carried his body; William Kirkcaldy of Grange held his standard, and John Knox preached at the funeral.[43] Knox's own prohibition of funeral sermons (on the grounds that they glorified the deceased and displayed distinctions between rich and poor) was waived for the occasion.[48] There is a bas-relief sculpture by Amelia Hill in Linlithgow commemorating the assassination and a Regent Moray Street near the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.