- Location: Angus, DD8 1RJ
- Opening times: 10.00am – 5.00pm until 31 October, 10.00am – 4.00pm from 1 November
- Entry (Castle Tour): Adult £17.50 senior £15.00, child £11.00, family £60.00
- Access: Free onsite parking.
I have seen Glamis Castle referred to online as Scotland’s most beautiful. This is something I can neither confirm nor deny, having not visited enough castles to formulate an objective decision, but I would be amazed if any of its rivals can match the driveway at Glamis for sheer spectacle. Straight as an arrow and nearly a mile long, the castle is only partially seen in the distance as it peaks through the centre of a curtain of trees. Beyond lie the mountains and glens of Angus, and above it, on this day at least, blue skies. Halfway along the path dips and, although still distant, the full height of the castle’s keep, with its explosion of turrets and cone-topped towers, becomes apparent. I soon arrive at two statues, King James IV on the left and his son King Charles I on the right, and the trees give way for the full splendour of the castle to be appreciated. It appears symmetrical, but closer inspection reveals it to be anything but. I haven’t even bought my ticket yet but it is already worth every penny.
The car park is behind the castle on the left, and when I stop at the ticket box I receive a very warm welcome along with my ticket and a map of the grounds. Unusually, entrance is through the gift shop, a standalone building across a small formal garden from the castle. I resist a rummage now, but will definitely check it out at the end of my visit. As I have half an hour to kill before the 1pm tour I pop into the restaurant for a snack, and again the staff are friendly and welcoming.
There are about twenty people on the tour and our tour guide is Ann. Unfortunately one of the rules is no photos inside the castle, a bit of a blow for a photo-heavy blog like this. The reason given is that we are essentially visiting someone’s private residence and the rooms are filled with their personal belongings, and that sounds fair enough until I later visit the gift shop and see that private residence and personal belongings plastered all over the official guidebook. A cynical person might think the photography prohibition might really be to boost sales of that ten-bucks-a-pop guidebook, but fortunately here at Brown Sign Blogging we don’t do cynicism. Anyway, that is why there are no interior shots accompanying this post.
The tour starts in the dining room, with a William IV mahogany table set for twelve, heraldic shields in the stained glass windows, and walls lined with portraits of the castle’s previous occupants. The current owner is Simon Bowes-Lyon, 19th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and his ancestry can be traced back to one John Lyon, the first Thane of Glamis, who was granted the land in the fourteenth century by Robert II, grandson of Robert the Bruce.
A couple of names in the previous paragraph might ring some few bells, so let’s turn to them before resuming the tour. Bowes-Lyon was the maiden name of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, mother of Elizabeth II and grandmother of Charles III. Her father was 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and she married Prince Albert, Duke of York, who later became King George VI.
The Thane of Glamis is the title held by Macbeth at the beginning of Shakespeare’s play, but this was a fiction on the writer’s part. The historical Macbeth had no connection to Glamis, except that in 1034 Malcolm II died in a hunting lodge where the castle now stands. Malcolm was the grandfather of his successor, Duncan I, who was killed by Macbeth in both the play and real life, although the historical killing occurred not at Glamis but near Elgin, and on a battlefield rather than in a bedroom. Some sources claim that Macbeth was also Malcolm’s grandson, making Duncan his cousin.
A hidden door in the dining room’s panelled wall leads into a vaulted room decorated, we are told, as it might have looked in the fifteenth century. It is truly hideous, its walls a clash of animal skulls, antlers, assorted horns, arms, armour, and at least one torture device. It has a sealed room adjacent to it, which, as one would expect from a sealed room, comes with its very own legend. It tells of Earl Beadie, a rogue of a man who has been identified as Alexander Lyon, 2nd Lord Glamis. It seems a servant suggested that the Earl stopped playing cards as the Sabbath was fast approaching, a day during which such activities were prohibited. The Earl roared that not only would he continue playing, but he would play cards with the Devil until doomsday if he so wished. The Earl officially died in 1486, but you can probably guess who is sealed up in the room, what he’s doing there, and who he is doing it with!
In contrast, there is the Chapel, the castle’s loveliest room. The panels of its walls and ceiling are adorned with paintings by the Dutch artist Jacob de Wet, who is best known for the 110 portraits of Scottish monarchs he created for Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace. De Wet began this massive undertaking in 1684, and four years later he was at Glamis painting the chapel. The most curious painting is one of Christ sporting a then-contemporary hat, of the kind routinely associated with cavaliers. This is one of only five ‘Jesus in a Hat’ paintings in the world, and Ann said that de Wet may only have painted it out of spite when the lord of the manor reneged on the agreed bill. The chapel also comes with its own ghost, for whom a seat is always left empty.
There are several other rooms on the tour including King Malcolm’s Room, King Duncan’s Room, the Drawing Room, the Queen Mother’s Bedroom, and the King’s Dressing Room, but I am going to conclude with the Library / Billiards Room. This is another animal graveyard, and it made me wonder who on earth sees a beautiful snow-white deer and thinks this would look better dead and glassy eyed in a garishly decorated, oversized playroom. And here, in another case, is an armadillo. What self-esteem issues must one be wrestling with to think outwitting an armadillo makes one appear more virile and manly? Can it even be called hunting? One can walk up to an armadillo and simply pick it up. They’re not that bright.
And so to the grounds, which are full of autumn colour and look undeniably lovely. My map shows a 45 minute walking tour, so off I went. As I could now take photos I’ll let them do (most of) the talking.
Destination or Diversion?
The tour of the castle took just over an hour as did my wander around the grounds. Add in a bite in the restaurant and a browse in the gift shop and we’re talking a full afternoon out, making Glamis Castle a destination and a highly recommended one at that.
