Glamis Castle and the Bowes-Lyon Family

'I must own' wrote Sir Walter Scott when he stayed a night at Glamis 'that when I heard door after door shut, after my conductor had retired, I began to consider myself as too far from the living, and somewhat too near the dead'. Scott's feelings were understandable - Glamis reeks of history and is peopled with phantoms, be they genuine echoes of past occurrences or the figments of imaginations held in thrall by the very stones which have witnessed nearly seven hundred years of Scotland's history.

From earliest known records Glamis belonged to the Scottish crown. It was not originally a fortress which is why it stands on low- lying ground in the midst of the lush Angus landscape. Its original purpose was a hunting lodge for the King of Scots who doubtless enjoyed many a good day out in the forests which must then have been hereabouts. Its position on boggy ground provided some defence.

King Malcolm II was mortally wounded in battle on Hunter's Hill near Glamis in 1034. He was brought to the Castle and died there where a chamber is still named after him. He was succeeded by his elder daughter's son, Duncan I, who was slain near Elgin (probably in battle) by his first cousin Macbeth (the son of Malcolm's younger daughter) in 1040. Macbeth, in turn, met a sticky end and although Shakespeare makes a great drama out of it, these events were not uncommon in the turbulent Scotland of those days when Kings of Scots were frequently slain by their heirs.

We must now leap the centuries to the year 1372. In this year Robert II, the first Stewart King of Scots, granted to Sir John Lyon of Forteviot the district of Glamis for services to the Crown. In 1376 Sir John married the King's daughter, Princess Joanna. Soon after the marriage the King made Sir John, Chamberlain of Scotland then the most important office in the disposal of the Crown, and having raised the thaneage of Glamis into a feudal barony, granted it to his son-in-law, the reddendo being a red falcon to be presented to the King yearly on the Feast of Pentecost.

Sir John (knighted 1377) founded a line of feudal barons and later earls which still flourishes at Glamis and dwells within its red sandstone walls. He met a violent end at the hands of Sir James Lindsay of Crawford, Scotland's ambassador to England. It is said that he was murdered in his bed.

His son, the second Sir John Lyon, began building the Castle, as we know it today, c.1400. He built the east wing - now housing the Royal Apartments - after his marriage to the great-granddaughter of King Robert II. Access to the Castle at this time was probably by an external stair to the first floor. His son, Patrick Lyon, was created a peer of Parliament in 1445 as Lord Glamis after being released by the English who had held him hostage for King James I of Scots. He became a Privy Councillor and Master of the Household in 1450. He began to build the Great Tower c.1435 which was completed by his widow in 1484. It was not however linked to the east wing for a further hundred years.

James V who had been dominated by his Douglas stepfather and manipulated by other members of the Clan became obsessed in his hatred of all of the name of Douglas and carried on a ruthless vendetta against them. Poor Lady Campbell (as Lady Glamis had become after her husband's death), a woman of impeccable character, of singular beauty and popularity, did not escape this depraved monarch's ferocity. A trumped-up charge of witchcraft was brought against her and she was condemned to be burnt at the stake as a witch. After long imprisonment in a dark dungeon, she was almost blind. Luckily her husband was dead and did not have to suffer seeing her being burnt alive outside Edinburgh Castle. Even her young son was condemned to death and imprisoned only to be released after the king had died.

Not content with this grave atrocity, the King considered Glamis Castle as forfeit to the Crown, occupied it and held Court there from 1537 to 1542. Many existing royal decrees and charters are dated from the Castle during this period. These events suggest the Castle was a comfortable and desirable place at the time.

When the young 7th Lord Glamis was released after James V's death and restored to his property by Act of Parliament, he found that the 9th royal usurpers had plundered the Castle of all its most valuable things - silver, bedding and furniture had all been taken away. A happier event took place years after when in 1562 the daughter of the cruel James V visited Glamis and showed great favour with the owner, perhaps as reparation for her father's wickedness. It was, of course, Mary Queen of Scots.

The 8th Lord Glamis was Chancellor of Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal. By the end of the 16th century he was described by the English Ambassador as having 'the greatest revenue of any baron in Scotland' and of being 'very wise and discreet'. At about that time the household consisted of 'a principal servitor and maister stabular, 2 servitors, a musicianer, master cook and browster (for the bakehouse and brewhouse respectively) foremen, a maister porter and his servant, a grieve and an officer'. The lady of the house would be attended by '2 gentlewomen, a browdinstar (embroiderer), a lotrix (bedmaker) and two other female servants'. Like his forebear, Sir John Lyon, he met his death at the hands of followers of the Lindsay family, though this time it was by accident.

His son, the 9th Lord Glamis was created Earl of Kinghorne by James VI in 1606. His title probably relates to the grant, by Robert II to Sir John Lyon in 1381, of the burgh of Kinghorne, in Fife. This higher rank of peerage in some way redressed the wrong done to the Lyon family by James V.

The 2nd Earl of Kinghorne, it is said, 'coming to his inheritance the wealthiest peer in Scotland, he left it the poorest'. This was largely because of his friendship with James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, with whom he joined forces. Montrose was at first a fierce Covenanter (against Popery and episcopacy) but later became more of a Royalist. There came a point when Kinghorne's conscience forced him to part company from his old friend when the latter took up arms against the Covenanters, and to throw in his lot against him. He even helped finance the Covenanting army against Montrose and thus beggared himself in the process.

Thus when Patrick, 3rd Earl of Kinghorne came into his inheritance he found his estates burdened with debts amounting to £40,000 - an absolutely massive sum in those days. He was advised that his estates were 'irrecoverable' but after 40 years hard work and determination he restored his inheritance to solvency. Patrick obtained a new charter to his patent of peerage in 1677 and was afterwards known as 'The Earl of Stradlmore and Kinghorne' as have been his successors ever since.

It says much for this young man that he managed not only to pay off his debts by strict economies, but also was later able to rebuild and improve Glamis Castle to very much its appearance today. This can be seen by examining the distant view of the building in the huge family painting of Stradlmore and his sons in the Drawing Room.

Lord Stradlmore re-modelled the Castle. He added the west wing in 1679 giving a false symmetry. He swept away the courtyard buildings, laid out the main avenue at 45 degrees to the Castle so that the large stair became the centre of the composition. In front he created a baroque setting of courts, sculptures and vistas. The interiors were equally rich. He built and decorated the Chapel and adapted the old Great Hall of the Castle, which had already been made elegant with plasterwork in 1621, into a fine Drawing Room which turned out to be his favourite part of the Castle and described in the diary as 'My Great Hall, which is a room that I ever loved'. He also kept a 'private buffoon' or jester and was the last nobleman to do so in Scotland. This jester's modey is still preserved in the Castle and can be seen in the Drawing Room and a small copy of it, worn by the Queen Mother's brother when a boy at a fancy dress party, can be seen in the Family Exhibition Room. The jester himself, it is recorded, was dismissed for proposing to a young daughter of the house!

The 4th Earl of Stradlmore married Lady Elizabeth Stanhope, a daughter of The 2nd Earl of Chesterfield. He had seven sons, two of whom became Lord Glamis, both predeceasing their father and four other brothers who succeeded to the Earldom in turn.

When the Old Chevalier left the Castle, he absentmindedly left his watch under the pillow. The maid who cleaned out the room after he had left, stole it. Many years later, that maid's great-great-great- granddaughter returned the watch to Glamis Castle. This, together with a sword which he presented to his host are shown in the Family Exhibition.

The 9th Earl was a Representative Peer for Scotland. Scottish peers did not then have an automatic right to sit in the House of Lords, but had to be elected by their fellow peers to do so. Lord Stradlmore married a great Durham heiress, Miss Mary Eleanor Bowes, the daughter of Sir George Bowes of Streadam Castle and Gibside. The Bowes were a family of ancient and honourable descent, Sir Robert Bowes being Elizabeth I's ambassador to Scotland from 1577 to 1583. The 9th Earl added new kitchens and the Billiard Room in 1773 and new service courts beyond the east wing. He began remodelling the policies pulling down the garden walls in front of the Castle and moving, in 1775, the gates to the periphery of the Estate.

The 10th Earl was also a Representative Peer, but was given the U.K. tide of Lord Bowes which entitled him to a seat in the Lords without election. He took the name of Bowes and later the surname Lyon was reincorporated to form the present name of Bowes Lyon. He also quartered the arms of Bowes with his own. The former were also punning arms - three bows 'proper' on an ermine background, and so the family are a great rarity in having punning arms for both their surnames on the same shield.

Although he lived largely on his estates in County Durham he completed much of the work at Glamis begun by his father. He re-roofed the east wing in 1797, rebuilt the west wing 1798-1801 and re-planted the main avenue c.1820.

The 10th Earl died in 1820 the day after his marriage and he was succeeded by his brother, the 11th Earl, when the barony of Bowes became extinct. The 10th Earl had a natural son by Mary Milner. He was John Bowes who founded the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle. The Earl married Mary Milner in an unsuccessful attempt to legitimise John Bowes.

It was the 13th Earl who modernised and made the Castle into a comfortable home for his large family. Gas was introduced in 1865 to be replaced by electricity in 1929. He installed running water in 1865 and central heating in 1866. He built a five-acre walled garden in 1866 to provide vegetables, fruit and flowers for the Castle and in the same year re-opened the chapel. He refaced the servants courts beyond the east wing in 1891 -97 and in 1893 created the Dutch garden in front of the Castle. The twentieth century brought further royal connections to Glamis with the marriage at Westminster Abbey on the 26th April 1923 between Prince Albert, Duke of York, second son of King George V, and the Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, youngest daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore.

This marriage was very popular in Scotland as it strengthened the very real ties of affection between the nation and the Royal Family which had been given such an impetus by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Lady Elizabeth was the youngest of four daughters of the 14th Earl and his Countess. Lady Violet the eldest, died in childhood; Lady Mary married the 16th Lord Elphinstone and Lady Rose became the wife of Vice-Admiral the 4th Earl Granville.

Although Lady Elizabeth spent much of her childhood at Glamis the was not born here. Her younger daughter, Princess Margaret Rose, Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon, was born at Glamis in 1930 and was the first royal baby in direct line to the English throne to be born in Scotland for 300 years. This is proudly remembered at Glamis.

At the Abdication of King Edward VIII the Duke of York ascended the Throne as George VI with the Duchess as Queen Consort and, ultimately, H.M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The eldest of the Queen Mother's six brothers succeeded as 15th Earl, served in the Great War in the Black Watch and married a daughter of the 10th Duke of Leeds. His elder son, John, Master of Glamis, was killed in action in the Second World War while serving in the Scots Guards and the 15th Earl was succeeded by his surviving son, Timothy, who also served in the Black Watch.

The present Lord Strathmore is married to Isobel, daughter of Captain A. Weatherall, and they have three sons: the heir Simon Patrick, Lord Glamis, the Hon. John Fergus Bowes Lyon and the Hon. George Norman Bowes Lyon.