Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll

The Right Honourable The Earl of Erroll
Arms of the Earl of Erroll
13th Lord High Constable of Scotland
In office 1585–1631
Preceded by	Andrew Hay
Succeeded by	William Hay
Personal details
Born	(1564-04-30)30 April 1564 Errol, Perthshire, Scotland
Died	16 July 1631(1631-07-16) (aged 67) Slains, Aberdeen, Scotland

Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll (30 April 1564 – 16 July 1631) was a Scottish nobleman. A convert to Catholicism, he openly conspired with the king of Spain to try to unseat the Protestant Queen Elizabeth.

He was the son of Andrew Hay, 8th Earl of Erroll by his first wife, Lady Jean Hay, daughter of William Hay, 6th Earl of Erroll. He was the second eldest son, but his older brother Alexander, who was a deaf-mute, was declared "insane" and skipped in the succession. Francis succeeded to the earldom upon the death of his father in 1585.

Early in his life he converted to Roman Catholicism, and as the associate of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly joined in the Spanish conspiracies against the throne of Queen Elizabeth. In 1589, he began engaging in treasonous correspondence with King Philip II of Spain, who was also briefly King of England by his marriage to Queen Mary.

A letter he wrote to King Philip declaring his allegiance to Spain was intercepted and sent by Elizabeth to James VI. In February 1589, he was ordered to appear in front of the Privy Council. Failing to appear, he was denounced as a rebel.

He engaged with Huntly and Crawford in a rebellion in the north of Scotland, but their forces surrendered at Aberdeen on the arrival of the king in April; and in July, Erroll gave himself up to James, who leniently refrained from exacting any penalty. In September of the same year he entered into a personal bond with Huntly for mutual assistance; and in 1590 displeased the king by marrying, in spite of his prohibition, Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of the William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton.