Sir William Keith of Delny (died 1599) was a Scottish courtier and Master of the Royal Wardrobe. He also served as ambassador for James VI to various countries. He was an important intermediary between George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal and the king, the king and courtiers, and the king and foreign governments.
Career William Keith was a son of Andrew Keith, laird of Ravenscraig, Aberdeenshire, and distantly related to the Earls Marischal. In 1579, he was made a valet in the household of James VI of Scotland.Miles Kerr-Peterson, 'Sir William Keith of Delny: Courtier, Ambassador and Agent of Noble Power', Innes Review 67:2 (2016), pp. 138-158, at pp. 140, 142.
In May 1583 he accompanied Colonel William Stewart and John Colville on an embassy to London to seek English support for the government of William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie. On 1 June he was attacked and insulted by Marmaduke Hedworth, Robert Banks, and others outside Durham on the way back. Hedworth declared Keith was a "Scottish villain" and he replied "I am a gentleman."William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1581-1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 486, 491-3.
Delny had sufficient influence to request that a namesake tailor, William Keith, be made a burgess of Edinburgh in April 1585.Roll of Edinburgh Burgesses (Edinburgh: SRS, 1929), p. 284.
England 1586 In January 1586, William Cecil wrote to the Earl of Leicester with news that James VI had sent his envoy William Keith of Delny to London to conclude their league.John Bruce, Leycester Correspondence (London: Camden Society, 1844), p. 52. Keith was involved in collecting the gifts of money which Queen Elizabeth gave to James VI, and made account of the money on 17 May 1586.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Boydell, 2020), p. 5 citing British Library Add. MS 33531 and National Records of Scotland RH2/2/16, p. 181. On 19 May Keith was granted lands in Delny in Ross-shire for his good service.Miles Kerr-Peterson, 'Sir William Keith of Delny', Innes Review 67:2 (2016), p. 145.
Mary, Queen of Scots Delny arrived in London on 5 November 1586 to intercede for the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, carrying the king's letter of instructions for Archibald Douglas. At that time, the French ambassador Du Preau, known as Courcelles, described Delny as a "pensionary and creature of the Queen of England".Robert S. Rait & Annie Cameron, King James's Secret: Negotiations between Elizabeth and James VI relating to the Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, from the Warrender Papers (London, 1927), pp. 34-6.
He met up with Archibald Douglas and had an audience with Queen Elizabeth on 10 November.Robert S. Rait & Annie I. Cameron, King James's Secret (London, 1927), p. 44. They requested that any proceedings against Mary should be delayed until members of the Privy Council of Scotland were present, and that nothing should prejudice James VI's succession to the English throne. Douglas and Delny attended a banquet with the commissioners at Mary's trial at Burghley's London house on 22 November, and were assured that nothing at Mary's trial had prejudiced James VI's title. James VI wrote to Delny that the execution of his mother would be a greater tragedy than the deaths of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Delny was reluctant to pass this letter to Elizabeth, but she heard of it, and Delny was forced to show it to her, and she was furious.Robert S. Rait & Annie I. Cameron, King James's Secret; Negotiations Between Elizabeth And James VI (London, 1927), pp. 34-94 Elizabeth was in a "passion" and the Earl of Leicester made a speech about the Scottish king's good intentions to appease her.King James's Secret (London, 1927), p. 81.
William Cecil wrote to Delny about "so strange and unseasonable message, as did directly touch her noble father (Henry VIII), herself, and all the estates of her present Parliament." Cecil said Elizabeth was now reluctant to receive further ambassadors from James VI.King James's Secret (London, 1927), p. 83. During the negotiations, Douglas said to Delny that he was "simple", meaning both honest and unsophisticated, and Delny wrote to John Maitland of Thirlestane that Douglas was a serpent in the likeness of a man, who had no care for the matter.King James's Secret (London, 1927), pp. 86-92.
In January 1587 Delny was joined in London by Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairny and the Master of Gray to intercede for the life of Mary.Tracy Borman, The Stolen Crown: Treachery, deceit and the death of the Tudor dynasty (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025), p. 136: Miles Kerr-Peterson, 'Sir William Keith of Delny', Innes Review 67:2 (2016), p. 148. After Mary was executed, their speeches and manner of mediation were said to have been counter-productive, and when Sir John Seton of Barnes was dismissed from household service in July, it was thought Delny would lose his place.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), pp. 453, 564. Despite his failure to secure his mother's life, James VI knighted Delny in August at time of the Parliament and made him Master of the Wardrobe.Miles Kerr-Peterson, 'Sir William Keith of Delny', Innes Review 67:2 (2016), pp. 148-9.
On 1 August James VI confirmed him as owner of Delny and granted him other lands which had been part of the Lordship of Ross. These lands were made into a new barony of Delny.John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal: 1580-1593 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 456-9. William Keith received £5,000 Scots in part payment for providing the king's clothes in 1588.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), p. 27.
Privy Council He was admitted to the privy council in March 1588.Miles Kerr-Peterson, A Protestant Lord in James VI's Scotland: George Keith, Fifth Earl Marischal (Boydell Press, 2019), p. 42. On 17 March he wrote to Walsingham mentioning the arguments in favour of James VI marrying Catherine de Bourbon the sister of Henry of Navarre.British Library Cotton Caligula D. I/293. At this time he transferred £10,000 Scots to the Lord Chancellor, John Maitland of Thirlestane, from the English subsidy money which Elizabeth gave to James VI.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 19-20, 69.
In July 1589 it was expected that Delny and the English courtier Roger Aston would lose their positions at court because they had been supporters of the Master of Gray, who was now out of favour. Their opponents, the followers of the Earl of Huntly and Sir John Seton of Barnes called Aston, Keith, and the Lord Privy Seal, "Queen Elizabeth's pensioners", this insult may be a reference to the English subsidy pensions or other payments.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915). p. 448-9, 452, 453: Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 127-9.
Denmark and downfall In June 1589, an English sailor George Beeston arrived in the Forth and Delny was sent to greet him.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 11 fn. 37. In October Delny was in the retinue which accompanied James VI to Norway and Denmark to collect his future Queen, Anne of Denmark.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 170-1. James Melville of Halhill mentions that Delny did not sail in the king's ship, but in one of three other ships, along with Lewis Bellenden, John Carmichael, the Provost of Lincluden, George Home, James Sandilands, and Peter Young.Thomas Thomson, James Melville Memoirs of his own life (Edinburgh, 1827), p. 372
After the royal wedding at Oslo, Colonel William Stewart sailed back to Edinburgh with instructions for the royal homecoming in the spring, and news of arguments between Chancellor of Scotland, John Maitland of Thirlestane, and the Earl Marischal and his kinsman William Keith of Delny, over precedence and the Queen's dowry.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 221-2 no. 327. James VI ordered Chancellor Maitland to give jewels to Christian IV and his mother Sophie of Mecklenburg and other royals. These gifts included four great table diamonds and two great rubies set in gold rings which Delny had brought to Denmark.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), pp. 57-8: George Duncan Gibb, Life and Times of Robert Gib, Lord of Carriber, vol. 1 (London, 1874), p. 296. There was discussion whether the queen's dowry money should be brought home untouched to Scotland, or whether the Earl Marischal, Lord Dingwall and Delny should be recompensed.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 221-2: Robert Vans-Agnew, Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus (Edinburgh, 1887), p. 447. James VI gave Delny 830 Danish dalers from the dowry for clothes received in Denmark.Lucinda H. S. Dean, '"richesse in fassone and in fairness": Marriage, Manhood and Sartorial Splendour for Sixteenth-century Scottish Kings', Scottish Historical Review, 100:3 (December 2021), pp. 384, 393. : Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588–1596', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 37.
During their time in Denmark, the king sacked Delny as keeper of the wardrobe, allegedly for appearing in richer clothing than himself, and appointed Sir George Home in his stead.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 276, 478. In the days before Delny lost his place, Robert Douglas, Provost of Lincluden on 4 April 1590 wrote "Sir William Keith is lyke to be casin, and to tyne his offices, credit and all."Robert Vans Agnew, Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus of Barnbarroch, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1887), pp. 455-6. A correspondent of Francis Walsingham wrote on 5 April 1590 that the Chancellor, John Maitland of Thirlestane, aimed to discredit the Earl Marischal and Delny, but Delny was "wonderfully well beloved" and had "ever worn his sword on the right and true side".HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 3 (London, 1889), p. 403. Archibald Douglas suggested Keith's allies were a threat to Maitland, and a royal guard raised by Sir John Carmichael was chiefly to protect the Chancellor.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 278.
Out of favour In the summer of 1590, Delny fell under suspicion of conspiring with the Earl Marischal and Alexander Home, 6th Lord Home to murder the Lord Chancellor. When, in July, the Earl Marischal was arrested, he sought the protection of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell. In the last week of July, Delny stayed at the house of Dorothea Stewart, Countess of Gowrie, near Holyrood Palace, hoping to regain the king's favour.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 371. Possibly unaware of his increasing difficulties, Christian IV of Denmark wrote to James VI on 3 August 1590 interceding for Delny's return to favour.William Dunn Macray, 'Report on Archives in Denmark', 46th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (London, 1886), p. 33.