Evening star., 1901-11-25
BALMORAL CASTLE.
Question of the Ownership of Vic
tOria's Scottish Home.

From the London Mail.
The people in the neighborhood are nat
urally a little curious as TO who will be the
future owner of Balmoral as, of course, 1t
was the private property of Queen Vic
toria. 1t is possible that it has been left
to the king but most people think II will
become the property of the Duke of Con-
naught who as the only other surviving
son of our late monarch is sure to have had
some special provision made for him. Bal
moral stands on the south side of the River
Dee on a narrow fiat of ground, with su-
perb mountain surroundings The house is
encircled by birch woods, and looks toward
the dark (now snow white) fastness of
Lochnagar on the right, and on the left is
the long range of Craig Nordie and the
beautiful Monaltrie moors
The River Dee and a beautiful bank of
splendid trees intervene between the high
road to Braemar and the castle. The house
was erected by the prince consort in 1854.
II is built in the Scottish baronial style,
with pepper box towers, and is entirely
composed of choice specimens OF granite
finely dressed by hand Many additions
have been made to the original house, and
it can now accommodate about a hundred
and fifty people. The Balmoral lands once
formed part of the erstwhile magnificent
estates of the Earldom of Mar. and in the
then Earl of Mar sold them to John Far
quharson of Inverey, an ancestor of the
present Farquharson of Invercauld. He
lost his estates in 1115 owing 10 his partici-
patton in the rebellion on behalf of the old
pretender and they were purchased for a
small sum from the crown by the Earl of
Fife.
The freeholder had been. curiously
enough. overlooked in the original forfeit
ure and remained il the hands of the
Farquharsons until the second rebellion, in
1145, in which they were also implicated,
when it was then given to the Earl of
Fife. Sir Robert Gordon, a brother of the
great Lord Aberdeen, took lease of Bal
moral early last century, and when he died,
in 1877, the prince consort. who had been
looking out for a property in the neighbor-
hood, purchased it for Queen Victoria. The
price paid was only f31 800, but the old cas-
tie was soon found too small for her majes-
tvs requirements, and, much to her regret,
had TO be pulled down.
Queen Victoria always had a great affec-
tion for the old building, and was always
anxious to acquire anything connected with
it. Two years ago, hearing that beautiful
water-color sketch by fellow of the Royal
Scottish Academy was to be sold she i'm
mediately bought 1t, and it now hangs at
Balmoral. Ballochbuie Forest, which is in
cluded in the Balmoral estate, was bought
by the queen some years ago from the late
Colonel Farquharson of lnvercauld, father
of the present Mr.. Farquharson of Inver-
cauld. Tradition says that it was given to
a member of that family by the Earl of
Fife of that time in exchange for plaid of
Farquharson tartan. Queen Victoria had
a stone erected on the boundary of the for
est bearing the inscription, Queen Victoria
entered into possession of Ballochbuie on
| May 10, 1878. The bonniest plaid In Scot
| land Not far from this stone are the
famous falls of the Garravalt a beautiful
and rugged mountain torrent. And there,
too, is picturesque. high-shouldered bridge
over the Dee, built by General Wade, at the
| confines of the Ballochbuie property
Abergeldie castle, six miles from Ballater
said to be the property of the late queen,
but she held it on lease only. 1t formerly
belonged. to the ancient family of Mowat
but Is now in the possession of Mr. Gordon.
The estate was originally taken as a resi-
dence for Queen Victoria's mother the
Duchess of Kent, who occupied it for sew
eral successive autumns- The castle is very
ancient and uncomfortable, and contains a
dungeon with a ring in ii, to which un-
happy prisoners were chained Abergeldie
lies under the shadow of Craig-na-Ba or
Hill of the Witch, on the summit of which
Katie Rankin, the last witch in the neigh
borhood, was fixed to a stake and burned.
Among the last guests to dine with Queen
Victoria at Balmoral were Prince and
Princess Alexis Dolgorouki. Early in the
autumn they received her majesty's COM
mand to dine at Balmoral, but the princess
having caught heavy chill, was unable
to do so, and few Gays afterward the
| queen called personally at Braemer castle
TO inquire after her. Only a few days be-
( fore the court left the castle the queen was
/ again pleased to command the company of
the prince and princess at dinney, and was
| especially charming and gracious to them
/ She always took the greatest interest In
| their marriage, and the princess prece.
| oence and .entree at court We're especially
given TO her by Queen Victoria.