Scotland was now ruled by Regents on behalf of Mary's infant son, James VI of Scotland, who faced a civil war. James Stewart, Regent Moray, Mary's half-brother, was assassinated in Linlithgow in January 1570. Morton was worried that Mary might escape and make her way back to Scotland, by feigning sickness during a dance and disguising herself in male apparel, or riding away in disguise with a messenger, or cutting her hair and smearing dirt on her face so she looked like a scullion who turned the spit in the kitchen. He wrote to William Cecil, and Queen Elizabeth in April 1571 wrote to the Earl of Shrewsbury at Sheffield Castle to be vigilant.