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The
castle is beautifully located about 6 miles northeast of
Inverness, overlooking the Moray Firth, on land which was
originally held by the Mackintoshes. In 1561 Mary Queen
of Scots returned to Scotland after the death of her
husband, the Dauphin of France. She gave the lands to her
illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, and granted him
the title of Earl of Moray, the fifth time of title of
Earl of Moray had been created. He became Regent of
Scotland under King James VI (who became James I of
England upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1601). He
was assassinated in Linlithogow in January 1570 - the
first recorded assassination of an important official by
rifle. He was succeeded by a semi-distant cousin, also
James Stewart, who in 1581 married the 1st Earl's
daughter Elizabeth, and thus became the second Earl of
Moray. Also known as the Bonny Earl for his good looks,
he was stabbed 13 times and killed in 1592 in a vendetta
by George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly.
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