Such blatant displays of love, however, were to be Rizzio's downfall. The Scottish nobles persuaded Lord Darnley that Rizzio was the Queen's lover and, in 1566, they broke into her apartments in Holyrood Palace and murdered him before the Queen's eyes. He was to suffer 57 stab wounds. A few years later Lord Darnley was himself to be strangled by the order of the Earl of Bothwell, Mary's new suitor. Mary was accused of complicity in the murder and was held in captivity by the Scottish Lords. She was later to escape and seek sanctury in England where she was eventually to be betrayed, imprisoned and beheaded by her cousin, Elizabeth of England. The trees however remain enduring symbols of The Queen and Rizzio's ill fated affection for each other.

In 1762 Sir David Rannie purchased the estate. He had acquired a vast fortune after 30 years of trading with the East India Company in Eastern seas based on Calcutta. His return to Scotland was short lived, as after 5 years he died leaving his two young daughters prey to the landed gentry. The shrewd Henry Dundas, a lawyer, and son of the neighbouring estate of Arniston, was 24 when he married the 14 year old Elizabeth, acquiring both her estate and her fortune. He was clever and industrious with consuming ambition. His service as a Member of Parliament in London under Prime Minister Pitt, was to be rewarded by an appointment as the first Viscount Melville. He also held the most prestigious and powerful position in Scotland as Lord Advocate. This is commemorated in a marble statue in the Advocates Hall in Edinburgh.

His new found wealth allowed him to commission James Playfair, the renowned Scottish architect of the time, to design a new castle and in 1786 the old medieval edifice was demolished and the new castle was built on its footprint. This building, an impressive castellated mansion with its spacious pillared entrance hall, elegant staircase and fine reception rooms, was created principally for entertaining on a grand scale.

In 1791 at the time of the French revolution and Britain's war with France, Lord Melville was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for War. He now wielded enormous power throughout Britain and its dominions. His preoccupation in state matters, however, resulted in a rash investment and the loss of all of Elizabeth's fortune in the crash of the Ayrshire Bank. This misadventure resulted in an impoverished Countess and a mortgaged Melville Castle. His successful political career however continued with his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty but these various government appointments meant that he was required to spend long months in London whereupon his long suffering wife, her fortune lost, eloped into the arms of another.

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