From Edinburgh to Inverness - 3 Castles, the Winners, the Losers and the Survivors

We left Edinburgh early and hit three castles.

The Winners (or those who figured out who the winners would be and stayed in favor)
The first was Glamis (pronounced Glams).  The first grantee from the King got about 14,000 acres of land for "services rendered".  He had previously become a lord by coming across with William the Conqueror (the Norman invasion -- Frenchmen descendants of Norsemen who conquered the Celts in Brittany).  Next a few generations later, a lord married a King's daughter and got in line for all the wealth, and was given an earldom, becoming an earl, a count by European comparison, and the earl's wife was called a countess.  The next step up is "royal" by the way.

At Galmis the eventual descendants (after being inherited by sons, nephews, and various strays in the primogenitor line, sired the present Queen Elizabeth II's mother, the queen mum who died in 2002 at the age of 102.  She grew up mostly at Glams.

The current Earl is about 55 years old, a bachelor who lives with the dowager countess, the present queen's cousin's wife.   He is very rich and runs the estate and many businesses.  Winners!

Getting ready for a party at Glamis Castle.  It is still a private residence, but they collect
about $15 bucks from each visitor to help keep it up.

The Winners have been picking the right allies for almost 1,000 years.

Next are the Losers!!

They did not choose wisely.  Their family also got lands from the poor Celts, who had stolen it from the Brits who stole it from the Pics.  These Normans got lands and the right to dominate and enslave the residents (our ancestor's of course, in all cases, whether its mom's Scots or my  English ancestors) to make lots of money and gain lots of power.

However;  this particular group chose wrong when they kept siding with the Scots against the English.  In 1715 the Earl Marischal (a particularly important office in the top 3 in the whole Scottish kingdom) The Marquis of Montrose, helped the wrong group and was executed and beheaded, likely at the same time, and lost his land, his title, his castle, his head (oops, already said that) and his descendants are probably janitors on the property now.

Dunnottar  (Picish word Strength Place or fort)

To the left is a stairway down, it was hard to access the castle.  It housed and hid the Scottish Crown Jewels, too.

Finally there are the surviving current Royals.   Queen Victoria bought Balmoral, an estate in Northwest Scotland "sight unseen" after having visited Scotland a couple of times with her new husband Prince Albert, a German prince.  She is the present queen's great-grandmother who reigned a long time about 56 years (Elizabeth II is completing 50 years this year).   Balmoral is almost 40,000 acres and employs the equivalent of a small village to run it,  harvest timber, be game keepers (harvest the too many deer), run the visitors center, etc.  Everyone is extremely nice by the way.

Balmoral and Mom  

Keith and Shaunna at the side of the "small" summer castle Balmoral in the Highlands.

Tomorrow, more castles!!