Glamis Castle Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus , Scotland . It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne , and is open to the public . Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century , though the present building dates largely from the 17th century . Glamis was the childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes - Lyon , who married King George VI , and was later known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother . Her second daughter , Princess Margaret , was born there . The castle is protected as a category A listed building , and the grounds are included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland , the national listing of significant gardens . Setting . Glamis is set in the broad and fertile lowland valley of Strathmore , near Forfar , county town of Angus , which lies between the Sidlaw Hills to the south and the Grampian Mountains to the north , approximately inland from the North Sea . The estate surrounding the castle covers more than and , in addition to parks and gardens , produces several cash crops including lumber and beef . There are two streams running through the estate , one of them the Glamis Burn . An arboretum overlooking Glamis Burn features trees from all over the world , many of them rare and several hundred years old . Birds and other small wildlife are common throughout the grounds . History . The vicinity of Glamis Castle has prehistoric traces ; for example , a noted intricately carved Pictish stone known as the Eassie Stone was found in a creek - bed at the nearby village of Eassie . In 1034 AD King Malcolm II was murdered at Glamis , where there was a Royal Hunting Lodge . In William Shakespeare ' s play " Macbeth " ( 1603 – 06 ) , the eponymous character resides at Glamis Castle , although the historical King Macbeth ( d . 1057 ) had no connection to the castle . By 1376 a castle had been built at Glamis , since in that year it was granted by King Robert II to Sir John Lyon , Thane of Glamis , husband of the king ' s daughter . Glamis has remained in the Lyon ( later Bowes - Lyon ) family since this time . The castle was rebuilt as an L - plan tower house in the early 15th century . The title Lord Glamis was created in 1445 for Sir Patrick Lyon ( 1402 – 1459 ) , grandson of Sir John . A legend tells of the 15th - century " Earl Beardie " , who has been identified with both Alexander Lyon , 2nd Lord Glamis ( died 1486 ) , and with Alexander Lindsay , 4th Earl of Crawford ( died 1453 ) . Several versions exist , but they all involve " Earl Beardie " playing cards . However , it was the sabbath , and either his hosts refused to play , or a servant advised him to stop . Lord Beardie became so furious that he claimed that he would play until doomsday , or with the Devil himself , depending on the version . A stranger then appears at the castle and joins Lord Beardie in a game of cards . The stranger is identified with the Devil , who takes Earl Beardie ' s soul and , in some versions , condemns the Earl to play cards until doomsday . John Lyon , 6th Lord Glamis , married Janet Douglas , daughter of the Master of Angus , at a time when King James V was feuding with the Douglases . In December 1528 Janet was accused of treason for bringing supporters of the Earl of Angus to Edinburgh . She was then charged with poisoning her husband , Lord Glamis , who had died on 17 September 1528 . Eventually , she was accused of witchcraft , and was burned at the stake at Edinburgh on 17 July 1537 . James V subsequently seized Glamis , living there for some time . In 1543 Glamis was returned to John Lyon , 7th Lord Glamis . In 1606 , Patrick Lyon , 9th Lord Glamis , was created Earl of Kinghorne . He began major works on the castle , commemorated by the inscription " Built by Patrick , Lord Glamis , and D [ ame ] Anna Murray " on the central tower . The English architect Inigo Jones has traditionally been linked to the redesign of the castle , though Historic Scotland consider the King ' s Master Mason William Schaw a more likely candidate , due to the tradtitional Scottish style of the architecture . During the Commonwealth of England , Scotland and Ireland , soldiers were garrisoned at Glamis . In 1670 Patrick Lyon , 3rd Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne , returned to the castle and found it uninhabitable . Restorations took place until 1689 , including the creation of a major Baroque garden . John Lyon , 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne , succeeded in 1753 , and in 1767 he married Mary Eleanor Bowes , heiress to a coal - mining fortune . He set about improving the grounds of the castle in the picturesque style in the 1770s . The south - west wing was rebuilt after a fire in the early 19th century . In the 1920s a huge fireplace from Gibside , the Bowes - Lyon estate near Wakefield , was removed and placed in Glamis ' Billiard Room . The fireplace displays the coat of arms of the Blakiston family ; Gibside heiress Elizabeth Blakiston had married Sir William Bowes . Several interiors , including the Dining Room , also date from the 18th and 19th centuries . In 1900 , Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon was born , youngest daughter of Claude Bowes - Lyon , 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his countess , Cecilia . She spent much of her childhood at Glamis , which was used during the First World War , as a military hospital . She was particularly instrumental in organising the rescue of the castle ' s contents during a serious fire on 16 September 1916 . On 26 April 1923 she married Prince Albert , Duke of York , second son of King George V , at Westminster Abbey . Their second daughter , Princess Margaret , was born at Glamis Castle in 1930 . Since 1987 an illustration of the castle has featured on the reverse side of ten pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland . Glamis is currently the home of Michael Bowes - Lyon , 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne , a former army officer , who succeeded to the earldom in 1987 . Legends and tales . The Monster of Glamis . The most famous legend connected with the castle is that of the Monster of Glamis , a hideously deformed child born to the family . In the story , the monster was kept in the castle all his life and his suite of rooms bricked up after his death . Another monster is supposed to have dwelt in Loch Calder near the castle . An alternative version of the legend is that to every generation of the family a vampire child is born and is walled up in that room . There is an old story that guests staying at Glamis once hung towels from the windows of every room in a bid to find the bricked - up suite of the monster . When they looked at it from outside , several windows were apparently towel - less . The legend of the monster may have been inspired by the true story of the Ogilvies . Somewhere in the walls is the famous room of skulls , where the Ogilvie family , who sought protection from their enemies the Lindsays , were walled up to die of starvation . Earl Beardie . Another legend tells of " Earl Beardie " , who has been identified with both Alexander Lyon , 2nd Lord Glamis , and Alexander Lindsay , 4th Earl of Crawford . Several versions exist , but they all involve " Earl Beardie " playing cards . However , it was the sabbath , and either his hosts refused to play , or a servant advised him to stop . Lord Beardie became so furious that he claimed that he would play until doomsday , or with the Devil himself , depending on the version . A stranger then appears at the castle and joins Lord Beardie in a game of cards . The stranger is identified with the Devil , who takes Earl Beardie ' s soul and , in some versions , condemns the Earl to play cards until doomsday . Other traditions . According to the official website for Glamis Castle , in 1034 , King Malcolm II was mortally wounded in a nearby battle and taken to a Royal Hunting Lodge , which sat at the site of the present castle , where he died . The late Sir David Bowes - Lyon , while taking a late stroll on the lawn after dinner , reportedly saw a girl gripping the bars of a castle window and staring distractedly into the night . He was about to speak to her when she abruptly disappeared , as if someone had torn her away from the window . Description . The towers in front of the castle each measure in diameter and are about high , each having a modern parapet . The walls are thick . There is a small chapel within the castle with seating for 46 people . The story given to visitors by castle tour guides states that one seat in the chapel is always reserved for the " Grey Lady " ( supposedly a ghost which inhabits the castle ) , thought to be Janet Douglas , Lady Glamis . According to the guides , the chapel is still used regularly for family functions , but no one is allowed to sit in that seat . Archives . The clock tower houses the castle ' s archives which include a wide range of historical material relating to the castle and the Bowes and Lyon families . These include a papal bull and the memoirs of Mary Eleanor Bowes . The current archivist is Ingrid Thomson . The Glamis archives have a close connection with the archives at the University of Dundee , and researchers who wish to consult material held in the Glamis Castle Archive do so in the search room at the University .