The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-02
BALMoRAL CASTLE.
Question of the Ownership of Vic
 ; tcria's Scottish Home.

London Mail.
 The people in the neighborhood are n iturslly a little curious as to who will be the future owner of BalmGral. as of course. it was the private property 9t Victoria tori It ,b is g9soss hut that most people think it will become the prop erty of the Duke of Connaught. who. as the only other surviving son of our late is sure sd to hnve sor nina haa stands on the south side of the River Dee, on a narrow plat of ground, with superb mountain surroundings. The looks toward the dark tnow snow whitel fastness of Lochnagar on the right, and on the left is the long range Of Craig Nordie and the beautiful Monaltris
 The River Dee and a beautiful bank of splendid trees intervene between the hlgh road to Braemer and the castle. Tho sort in 1854. It is built in the Scottish baronial style. with "pepper,oox tow CTS, and is entirely composed of choice specimens of granite finely dressed by
 hand. Many additions nave been made to the original house and it can now ac- commodate about 150 people. The Bal
 moral lands once formed part Of the
 erstwhile magnificent estates or the Earl
 dom of Mar. and in the early part or the seventh century the then Earl of Mar sold them to John Farquharson Of Inversey, an ancestor of the present
 
 estates in 17l5 owing to his participation in the rebellion on behalf of the old pretender, and they were purchased for l small sum from the Grown for the Earl | of Fife. The freeholder has been. cautiously | enough, overlooked in the original Tor l feiture and remained in the hands or the Farauharsons until the second rebelion' l cated, when it was then given to the | Earl of Fife. Sir Robert Gordon. a | brother of the great Lord Aberdeen, took l lease of Balmoral early last century | and when he died in 1S47, the Prince Con | sort who had been looking out for a | property in the neighborhood, purchased
 It for Queen victoria M ria The priSe pa,e tbe | old castle was soon found too small for | Her Maiesty's requirements. and, much
 to her regret. had tc he pulled down | lection for the old building, and was | always anxious to acquire anything con nected with 1t. Two years ago: nearing
 that beautiful water-color sketch py
 was to be sold. she immediately bought 1t, and now it hangs at Balmoral. Bal
 iochbule Forest. which is included in the
 Balmoral estate. was bought by , tne | father of the present Mir. Farquharson
 of Invercauld Tradition says that It
 by ' the @ Earl of Fife, of that time, in exchange for a plaid of Farquharson l tartan. Queen Victoria had stone
 erected on the boundary or the forest,
 bearing the Inscription. Queen Victoria | entered into DO ysession of Ballochbule on May 15. 1S7S.- The bonniest place In Scot land" Not far from this stone are the tiful and rugged mountain torrent. Ana there too, is the picturesque hlgh-shoul-
 dered bridge over the Dee. built by zen eral Wade at the confines Of the Bal
 AIbereeidies Castle, six miles from Bal later and adjoining the Balmoral estate,
 is often said to be the property or the
 late Queen. but she held It on lease only'
 It formerly belonged to the ancient fam
 ily of Mowat, but is now in the posses
 sion of Mir. Gordon. The estate was originally taken a residence TOT queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess Of Kent, who occupied it for several successive autumns The castle Is very ancient ana un comfortable. and contains dungeon with a ring in 1t, to which unhappy prls- oners were chained: Abergeldle lies 1Ii,, un1 der the shadow of Craig-na-B Ban. or Hlil | of the Witch, on the summit or Whlch Katie Rankin, the last witch Tn the neighborhood, was fixed to stake ana Among the last guests to dine with Queen Victoria. at Balmoral. were FrlnGe and Princess Alexis Dolgorouki Early n the autumn they received Her Maj | astv's command to dine at Balmorai. huf inc Princess having caught a neaVy chill. was unable to do so. ana rev days afterward the Queen called person ally at Braemer Castle to inquire atter her. Only few days before the Court l left the castle the Queen was agaln | nIeased to command the company or the | Prince and Princess at dinner. anu "de te them She always took the greatest m, | terest in their marriage. and the PrlEcess nrecedence and entree at court were especially given to her by Queen VIC