George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes

Who was George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes?

George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes was a Scottish nobleman and diplomat.

George became Earl of Rothes after his father's death at the Battle of Flodden. The title had previously been possessed by his uncle, William Leslie, the 2nd Earl. On 1 April 1517 he and his wife redeemed by purchase family lands which James IV of Scotland had sold to Andrew Barton.

He was Sheriff of Fife from 1529 to 1540 and a Lord of Session from 1541 and a Lord of the Articles from 1544.

George accompanied James V of Scotland on his wedding trip to France in 1536. He was tried for the murder of Cardinal Beaton and acquitted. He was ambassador to Denmark in 1550, and died at Dieppe, France in 1558.

George died while returning from the solemnization of the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots. Several of the other Scottish commissioners died, Lord Fleming at Paris, and the Bishop of Orkney and Earl of Cassillis at Dieppe on the same night as George, 24 November 1558. It was rumoured that they were murdered because of their stance of the issue of giving the Crown-Matrimonial of Scotland to the Dauphin.