James Ogilvy, 5th Lord Ogilvy of Airlie


James Ogilvy, 5th Lord Ogilvy of Airlie was a Scottish landowner and diplomat.
He was the son of James, Master of Ogilvy, and Katherine Campbell, a daughter of Sir John Campbell of Cawdor. The Master of Ogilvy was killed in 1547 at the Battle of Pinkie.
His home was Airlie Castle, which he planned to rebuild or extend in 1564.
In June 1562, Lord Ogilvy was injured in a duel with John Gordon of Findlater in Edinburgh. John Gordon was imprisoned until Ogilvy recovered.
In April 1587 Ogilvy wrote to Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch recommending his servant Robert Bruce to join an embassy to Denmark, because they had both recently been in Denmark.
James VI was invited to Denmark in May 1596 by the ambassador Steen Bille to attend the coronation of his brother-in-law Christian IV. He appointed Lord Ogilvy and Peter Young as his ambassadors to go in his place, because his wife Anne of Denmark was pregnant, and they were accredited by Christian IV in a letter dated 6 August 1596. James VI rode from Falkland to Dundee to see them depart. As well as offering James's good wishes, and apologising for the absence of James and Anne of Denmark, they were to ask for ships and troops for a mission planned against the Western islanders of Scotland in 1597.

Marriage and family

Ogilvy married Jean Forbes, a daughter of William, Lord Forbes and Elizabeth Keith. Their children included: