Tea at Trianon: A Scottish Castle

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, June 3, 2021

A Scottish Castle

From Country Life:

Many original features have survived in the 42,000sq ft interiors, including a magnificent wooden staircase, intricately decorated ceilings and fine fireplaces, so the fabric is there to create a magnificent home—as it originally was when it was built in the early 20th century for Mary Caroline, Duchess of Sutherland, the woman who may possibly have inspired Cinderella’s stepmother in the Disney version of the fairy tale.

The building’s colourful history is an attraction in its own right — it could be straight out of a book. The Duchess, the second wife of the 3rd Duke of Sutherland, wasn’t much liked by her husband’s family and when he died, the 4th Duke took her to court to contest the will.
Found guilty of having destroyed documents to help secure her inheritance, the Duchess was thrown into prison for six weeks. Eventually, however, she found a compromise with the Sutherland family, who agreed to build her a castle, but only as long as it was outside of their estate.

The crafty Duchess then found a piece of land on a hillside immediately beyond the estate’s confines, thus ensuring that she’d rub it in the family’s face for the rest of their days — and that’s how Carbisdale came to be. To top it all off, she had clocks put on all the faces of the castle’s tower bar one — the one that faced towards the Sutherland estate. (Read more.)