page_title: George Seton, 7th Lord Seton
section_title: Supporter of the exiled queen
hierarchical_section_title: George Seton, 7th Lord Seton / Political career / Supporter of the exiled queen
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of George, 5th [or 7th] Lord Seton, and his family. Seton, a prominent Catholic supporter of Mary Queen of Scots, wears a crucifix.
context_page_description: George Seton V, 7th Lord Seton was a Lord of the Parliament of Scotland, Master of the Household of Mary, Queen of Scots and Provost of Edinburgh. He was the eldest son of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton and Elizabeth Hay, a daughter of John Hay, 3rd Lord Hay of Yester. His childhood and schooling were in France.
context_section_description: Three Scottish supporters of Mary, the Duke of Châtellerault, the Earl of Huntly and Earl of Argyll gave Seton a commission to treat with the Duke of Alba, Viceroy of Lower Germany, as Mary's ambassador in August 1570. Seton was to ask for Spanish help to re-instate Mary in Scotland and expel her son's supporters who depended on English power. Alba would send money to Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange to continue holding Edinburgh Castle for Mary. In September 1570, Lord Morley met him in the household of Katherine Neville, the Countess of the exiled Earl of Northumberland at Bruges. Seton told Morley that he had come to escort the Countess, who had previously sought refuge in Scotland, into France. The author of the Historie and Life of James the Sext, recorded what must have been a popular account of the mission to the Duke of Alba. Seton tried to convince Alba to provide an army of 10,000 men by persuading the Scottish soldiers fighting against Spain to change sides. The soldiers were unresponsive until Seton himself was captured and tortured on the rack. The soldiers then mutinied only till he was released. There was an offer of money, but Alba could not spare the men, and Seton's mission was unsuccessful. Meanwhile in Scotland, the goods of his French stepmother, Marie Pieris, and half-brother Robert Seton were seized by Regent Moray's officers.
  In January 1572, Seton was in the Spanish Netherlands with the Duke of Alba and still in contact with the Countess of Northumberland. Seton's return to Scotland through England prompted thorough searches of Scottish shipping in English waters. In April 1572, the Marshall of Berwick upon Tweed, Sir William Drury, plotted with Mr Archibald Douglas to kidnap Seton on his return from the shore at Leith at night and take him to England, but the plan did not take effect after Douglas was arrested by Regent Mar.
  An Italian called Battista di Trento wrote a long letter to Elizabeth I of England in 1577, which alleged to reveal a plot some years earlier involving Seton and his sons, including Alexander, then a student in Rome. As part of the Ridolfi Plot, Mary would have married the Duke of Norfolk and be restored to the Scottish throne. Seton would pay to secure Edinburgh Castle on her behalf. Elizabeth would marry the Earl of Leicester. Battista laid out five schemes for the plot and the 19th century editor of William Cecil's papers believed his circumstantial details to show some "sub-stratum of truth" in his statements.
  In May 1579, during the suppression of the Hamilton family, Lord Seton and three of his sons were ordered to enter ward at Brechin Castle. Seton pleaded with the King's keepers at Stirling Castle to mitigate their charge of treason. His son John Seton of Barnes, known as the 'Cavalier de Bucca' from his post at the Spanish court, had returned to Scotland and was suspected to have brought messages from the exiled Queen Mary. On 2 June 1581, Seton and two of his sons watched the execution of Regent Morton from a forestair on the Royal Mile of Edinburgh.
caption: George, Lord Seton, and his family, painted 1572 by Frans Pourbus the Elder while Seton was in the Spanish Netherlands.[18]
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