This improvement in his fortunes was not to last. The business of the forced marriage and rape was unresolved (it being a matter concerning private individuals, not the Crown), and the Murrays did not relent on this charge. When he failed to appear in court in February 1701 to answer the charge of "rapt and hamesucken", he was again outlawed. This was followed up a year later by more "letters of intercommuning" (known more dramatically as a "Commission of Fire and Sword"). In March 1702 William III died, and Queen Anne succeeded to the throne. She favoured Tullibardine, rather than Argyll.