Glamis Castle

OVERVIEW

A turreted castle in Angus, the Lyon family's since 1372 and the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne's since 1677; Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon grew up here and Princess Margaret was born here in 1930. Shakespeare gave Macbeth the title Thane of Glamis. The castle is open and its guides tell its legends, which are the most elaborate of any Scottish house.

HISTORY

Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, was burned for witchcraft on Castle Hill, Edinburgh, on 17 July 1537 on charges got up by James V against the Douglases; the king then seized the castle. 'Earl Beardie' — Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford (d. 1453), or the 2nd Lord Glamis — is said to have sworn to play cards until doomsday when refused a game on the Sabbath, and to be doing so still with a stranger who came to the door. The Monster of Glamis is a nineteenth-century tale of a deformed heir kept alive in a secret room; Mike Dash traced it to Thomas Bowes-Lyon, born and recorded as dying on 21 October 1821, whose survival was rumoured. The family has denied there is any such room.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The Grey Lady, taken to be Janet Douglas, in the chapel, where a seat is kept for her; Earl Beardie's dice and cursing heard from a tower room; the story of guests hanging towels from every window to find the one without. The guides tell all of it and the family lives with it. The entry records the legends as the castle records them.

VISITING

Seasonal opening, ticketed; guided tours of the castle, grounds free to roam.