debruised by a ribbon, a symbol of bastardy, while the second and third quarters show the arms of the Earldom of Orkney In 1539 Robert Stewart was made Commendator of
Holyrood Abbey, and Commendator of
Charlieu Abbey in France by 1557. Clothes for "lord Robert of Halyrudhous" and his brothers were made by the king's tailor,
Thomas Arthur. In 1550, after the conclusion of the war known the
Rough Wooing, he accompanied his step-mother
Mary of Guise on a visit to the French court. In July 1553, his sister
Lady Jean Stewart was contracted to marry
Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll. Her cash dowry of 5,000 merks was to be paid by Mary of Guise and her brothers, the Commendators of Kelso, Holyrood, and Coldingham. During the
Reformation Crisis, on 9 February 1560 he testified against the Hamiltons, the
Duke of Châtellerault and
Earl of Arran, and the Protestant
Lords of the Congregation to
James MacGill and
John Bellenden of Auchnoule. They were collecting evidence for
Henri Cleutin and
Jacques de la Brosse, the French advisors of Mary of Guise who planned to have the Hamiltons charged with treason against his half-sister,
Mary, Queen of Scots and France. Robert himself had signed some of the letters that were to be cited as evidence. Mary, Queen of Scots returned to Scotland on 19 August 1561, arriving unexpectedly at Leith at 10 o'clock in the morning with her entourage of 60 companions in two galleys. Lord Robert welcomed her at
Holyrood Palace. Robert, his half-brother
Lord John, the
Marquis of Elbeuf and others performed at the
sands of Leith in a tournament in December 1561. There was "
running at the ring" with two teams of six men, Robert's team dressed as women, the other as exotic foreigners in strange masquing garments. Robert's team were the winners. The ambassador of Savoy,
Monsieur de Moret, watched the tournament at Leith, and he was lodged in Lord Robert's house at Holyrood. There was a similar tournament in costume in August 1594 at the
baptism of Prince Henry at
Stirling Castle. Again, in March 1565, Robert Stewart took part in running at the ring at the sands of
Leith, and the contestants included a newcomer at court
Lord Darnley. Robert Stewart was knighted as Sir Robert Stewart of Strathdon on 15 May 1565, as part of marriage celebrations of Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley. In 1581 he was made
Earl of Orkney by
James VI, the first Earl in a second creation of the Earldom of Orkney. The new earldom replaced a short-lived Dukedom of Orkney, which had been awarded in 1567 by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her notorious third husband
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. This dukedom was forfeit later that same year after Mary was forced to abdicate and Bothwell was charged with treason. Prior to this dukedom there had existed an Earldom of Orkney that was surrendered in 1470 by
William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney ==Family==