Albany went to Rome as a diplomat working for France and Scotland. The Spanish ambassador Miçer Mai mentions meeting him at the Papal Palace and then holding negotiations at the Imperial Embassy in August 1531. Albany was delegated to negotiate with Pope Clement VII for a marriage between James V and Catherine de'Medici, the young Duchess of Urbino in 1530. This was perhaps a diplomatic manoeuvre to force Francis I of France to honour a clause in the 1517 Treaty of Rouen which promised the Scottish King a royal French bride. In May 1531, Albany was instructed that this marriage was off, and it was planned that James V would be engaged to Christina of Denmark.