Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and his wish that "every haire in my heade for to be a wourthy souldiour". The Lennox Crisis (1558–1563) was a political dilemma in England that arose from the dynastic ambition of the Lennoxes: Matthew Stewart, the 4th Earl of Lennox, was third in line to the Scottish throne, and his wife Margaret Douglas, the Countess of Lennox, was a niece of Henry VIII (Henry's sister Margaret Tudor's daughter) and granddaughter of Henry VII, making her second in line to the English throne after Mary Queen of Scots, and her son Darnley after her, should Elizabeth not have been able
Stewart of Darnley east of Barrhead, present day Darnley, within the city of Glasgow. In 1356, Robert Stewart, High Steward of Scotland granted the barony to Sir John Stewart. Like the Royal Stewarts, the Stewarts of Darnley used both the Stuart and the Stewart spelling of their surname. Sir John Stewart of Darnley (d.1429) fought in the Hundred Years' War under his namesake and distant cousin John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan in the army of Charles VII of France. For his services he was rewarded with the lands of Aubigny-sur-Nere and Concressault which were given to the second son in the family