How Balmoral forged the wild, tartan-clad Scotland of travel brochures

One of Walter Scott’s many fans was George IV’s niece, Queen Victoria. In 1842 she travelled to Scotland with her husband, Prince Albert, to visit the locations in Scott’s novels. In 1847 they holidayed in Adverikie, near Inverness, and in 1848, they discovered Balmoral. It was the start of a royal love affair with Aberdeenshire which has endured until today.

The significant thing about Balmoral was that, despite its antique aesthetic, it was actually a thoroughly modern creation. There was already a house on the estate, but Victoria and Albert wanted something bigger and more comfy, so they built another next door. The architectural style was Scottish Baronial: faux medieval on the outside, all mod cons within, a suitable metaphor for their sincere yet sentimental relationship with Scotland.

Victoria’s family tree was predominantly German, but she had some Scots blood, and so to celebrate her (relatively tangential) Scottish ancestry, she festooned Balmoral with tartan: green Hunting Stewart; white Dress Stewart and red Royal Stewart. She kitted out her servants in kilts and sporrans. One of her prime ministers, Lord Rosebery, dubbed her tartan drawing room the ugliest room in the world.

Rosebery had a point – Victoria’s furnishing was rather naff – but some things are more important than good taste. This ersatz Caledonian décor served a higher purpose. As Scottish historian Michael Lynch observed in his astute book, ‘Scotland – A New History, ‘The very Scottishness of Balmoral helped give the monarchy a really British dimension for the first time.’ And despite a few recent hiccups, it’s a dimension that has lasted.

“All seemed to breathe freedom and peace, and to forget the world and its sad turmoils,” wrote Queen Victoria, poetically, of Balmoral, and it is clear that in her own more down-to-earth manner, her great-great granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, felt much the same. A frequent visitor throughout her childhood, alongside her father, King George VI, and her grandfather, King George V, during her 70-year reign she spent most of her summers here.