Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 22 on 10/08/2005.

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Home of the famous Thane

Charles Douglas visits Glamis Castle, home of the earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne

The other day I met this year’s winner of the Man Booker International Prize, an Albanian of the name of Ismail Kadare, who informed me that he had come to Scotland to visit Macbeth’s castle. I scratched my head, wondering if he met Cawdor Castle, on the Moray Firth, but he said no. He was on his way to explore Glamis.

Of course, he meant Glamis. If there is anywhere in Scotland which best conjours up images of long ago romance and sinister intrigue, this Camelot-style castle in the low-lying meadows of the county of Angus is the place. Yet sparkling pink in the summer sunshine, it is hard to think of anywhere more welcoming, especially if you recall that it was the childhood home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

William Shakespeare was the master of invention, but it is unlikely he had the present castle in mind for his Thane of Glamis. The bulk of the building that we see today dates from at least six centuries after that Scottish king met his death in 1057.

But early Scottish kings did make use of a hunting lodge in the neighbourhood until 1372, when King Robert II, grandson of Robert the Bruce, granted the thaneage of Glamis to the Lord Chamberlain of Scotland, Sir Robert Lyon. Four years later this noble knight became King Robert’s son-in-law when he married the king’s daughter, Princess Joanna. Known as ‘the White Lion’ because of his fair hair and skin, he met a violent end, allegedly murdered in his bed.

As is so often the case, the nucleus of the.....

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By Charles Douglas

Section : Historic Houses

Page number : 14