Scottish Castle's
Edinburgh Castle
Home of Scottish kings and queens from centuries past, high above the city on its perch of volcanic rock.
This most famous of castles dominates the World Heritage listed Old and New Towns of Edinburgh and gives stunning views of the city and countryside. St. Margarets Chapel, Mons Meg siege cannon, the Great Hall, the magnificently restored Laich Hall and the Scottish National War Memorial are here together with the highly acclaimed "Honours of the Kingdom" exhibition which traces the history of Scotland's Crown Jewels and culminates in a visit to the Crown Room housing the Scottish Regalia and the Stone of Destiny.
Stirling Castle, Central Scotland
Perhaps the best known ghost of Stirling Castle is that of the Green Lady, a phantom said to appear at the most unexpected times and places in the castle. In recent years she is said to have caused dinner to be served late in the officers' mess - the castle is an Army garrison - when she appeared in the kitchens to watch the cook going about his catering chores. He, being aware of the feeling of being watched, turned and saw the misty-green figure totally absorbed in what he was doing, and promptly fainted.
In life the Green Lady could have been an attendant to Mary, Queen of Scots. Her greatest claim to fame at that time was that one night, whilst asleep, she had a dream that the Queen was in danger. Waking up with a start she had rushed to the Queen's bedchamber to find the curtains of the four-poster bed aflame with the Queen herself asleep inside. When the Queen was rescued from the burning bed she had recalled a prophecy that her life would be endangered by a fire whilst she was at Stirling Castle.
It has also be suggested that the Green Lady was the daughter of a governor of the castle who was betrothed to an officer garrisoned there. The poor man was accidentally killed by the girl's father and she in despair and anguish is said to have thrown herself from the battlements to her death on the rocks 250 feet below.
Any appearance of the Green Lady is taken very seriously by the authorities at the castle. Many of her appearances have been followed by a disaster of some kind and indeed several fires at the castle have followed a sighting of the silent figure.
The Upper Square of the castle, known as the Governor's Block, is where footsteps echo across the ceiling of a room at the top of a flight of stairs and yet there is nothing above that room except for a roof on which nobody could walk. In 1946 these footsteps were heard several times at infrequent intervals by an officer of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and in 1956 by a major occupying that room.
In the 1820's there was a "sentry beat" along the battlement that then existed over the Governor's Block. One night a sentry, taking over guard duty, found the previous guard dead at his post, mouth wide open, a look of utter terror on his face. No explanation was ever made for this incident although it is known that after several other guards reported strange and terrifying incidents on the beat. The sentry duty above the Governor's Block was discontinued during early Victorian times.
Stirling Castle has also a Pink Lady, a young girl dressed in pink surrounded by a pink glow, who actually walks from the castle to the nearby church at Lady's Rock. It was at this spot that the women of the court used to watch their menfolk as they jousted. It is thought that this particular lady was one of the occupants of the castle when it was besieged by Edward I in 1304. She was the only one to escape from the castle and it is thought that she may return to the castle searching for her husband who was killed in the siege.
Balmoral Castle
The immense castellated mansion of Balmoral is set in the gently wooded countryside of the River Dee. Robert II had a hunting lodge here, the Sir Malcolm Drummond built a tower on the same site. The Gordon Earls of Huntly bought the estate in the 15th century and it subsequently changed hands in 1662 and 1798. in c.1845 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert paid their first visit. Prince Albert paid Ł31, 500 for the 24, 000 acre site and it remains the Royal Family's favourite retreat today
Culzean Castle
Near Dunure, Strathclyde
Culzean Castle was the scene of the roasting to death of a member of the Stuart Clan in 1570 and echoes of this gruesome act have been witnessed even in recent years.
In the 16th century the castle was the home of the Kennedy Family and it was Gilbert Kennedy, fourth Earl of Cassillie, who had Alan Stuart, Commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, seized. Alan Stuart was taken to the Black Vault, stripped naked and bound to a spit and then roasted in front of a great fire.
Under such pressure he signed a document giving the lands of Crossraguel Abbey to the Earl, but six days later was roasted again before he could sign a confirmation document. For this act, which nearly cost Alan Stuart his life, Gilbert Kennedy was fined the sum of Ł2,000 by the Privy Council but kept the lands he had forcibly acquired. He paid Alan Stuart a life pension.
Since that time the crackling and roaring sounds of a great fire have been heard coming from within the walls of the castle, accompanied by screams and sobs that fade away into the silence. Strangely enough the sounds have been heard mainly on Sunday mornings.
In 1972, three servants of the castle independently saw an indistinct shape in the dungeons but it is though that this is the ghost of a Kennedy piper who was murdered at the castle.
St Andrews Castle
The first Castle of St. Andrews was built about 1200 by Bishop Roger, son of Robert, third Earl of Leicester. It was seized by Edward I, and he held here the parliament at which the Scottish barons gave him their allegiance.
It was again garrisoned by Edward III, but shortly after he retired to England, Sir Andrew Moray, the Regent, captured it after a siege of three weeks, and entirely demolished it. It was reconstructed by Bishop Trail about the end of the fourteenth century. At his death in 1401 the governor, Albany, took possession, and confined here the Duke of Rothesay, heir to the Crown, before his death by starvation at Falkland.
The strength of the castle at this time is shown by the fact that the revenues of the kingdom, by act of parliament, were kept in "a kist of four keys," in the "Castle of St. Andrews, under the care of the bishop and prior of the monastery." James III was born in the castle.
In the days of Archbishop Beaton (1528-1589), the castle was kept with great splendour. The English ambassador wrote, "I understand there hath not been such a house kept in Scotland many days before, as of late the said archbishop hath kept, and yet keepeth; insomuch as at the being with him of these lords (Angus, Lennox, Argyle, etc.), both horses and men, lie gave livery nightly to twenty-one score horses."
On the 28th of March, 1545, George Wishart of Pitarrow, the famous divine, was burned alive before the castle by order of Cardinal Beaton. The tower was hung with tapestry as for a festival, and the cardinal and his friends reclined on cushions of velvet in the windows to enjoy the spectacle.
Before his death Wishart foretold the cardinal's impending death with much exactness. At this very time, Henry VIII had entered into a conspiracy with several Scottish noblemen, includina Norman Leslev. Master of Rothes, his uncle John Lesley, and Kirkcaldy of Grange, for the murder of the prelate.
On the 29th of Nay of the same year, the conspirators, about a dozen in number, gained admittance to the castle early in the morning when the drawbridge was lowered to admit workmen who were strengthening the fortifications. They stabbed the porter, sent off the workmen, and gradually turned out all the servants as they appeared from their beds.
Eventually, having thus quietly disposed of more than one hundred and fifty of his defenders, they were left alone in the castle with the cardinal. They forced open his door, and stabbed him repeatedly with daggers. "A few angry words, a bright gleam of steel as the weapons flashed in the morning light, and the cardinal fell covered with wounds, crying 'Fy ! Fy ! I am a priest; all is gone!' and vengeance was satisfied.
The citizens having been aroused, assembled at the gate, clamouring for 'a word with my lord cardinal,' but were, instead, presented with his mangled body, suspended from the balcony of the tower 'by the tane arm and the tane fut,' and requested to look at their god." Sir David Lindsay of the Mount thus expresses the feeling of most of the reformers: --
"As for the cardinal, I grant,
He was the man we well might want;
God will forgive it soon.
But of a truth, the sooth to say,
Although the bun be well away,
The deed was foully done."
The conspirators were soon joined in the castle by one hundred and twenty of their friends and held the place for more than a year. The French finally sent twenty-one galleys under the command of Leo Strozzi, Prior of Capua, a knight of Rhodes, to finish the siege.
Lindsay of Pitscottie relates that " when the news came that these vessels were seen off St. Abb's Head, steering for St. Andrews, the governor well content hereof, hasted him to St. Andrews, with the gentlemen of Fife, Angus, and Strathearn, and welcomed the French captain. . . . They clapt about the house so hastily and unexpectedly, that many were closed out, and divers were closed in, against their will.
Then they mounted their ordnance both upon the college steeple, and also upon the walls of the abbey kirk, wherewith they commanded the castle close; so that no man durst walk therein, or go up to the wall head. The captain told the governor, that they had been unexpert warriors who had not mounted their ordnance on the steeple heads in that manner, and that he wondered at the keepers of the castle; that they had not first broken down the heads of the steeples.
He caused also the great battery to be laid to the castle, the two Scottish cannons and six French; and to prevent slaughter, he devised that the cannons should pass down the streets by engines, without any man with them; which thing when the Italian engineer (which had been sent from England for the support of those within the castle) perceived, he said that they had now to do with men of war, and therefore had need to take heed to themselves.
They answered that they should defend their castle against Scotland, France, and Ireland, all three. But the battery within a few hours made such breaches in the wall that, despairing of their strength, after consultation, they yielded the castle and themselves to the King of France. The French captain entered and spoiled the castle very rigorously; wherein they found great store of vivers, clothes, armour, silver, and plate, which, with the captives, they carried away in their galleys. The governor, by the advice of the council, demolished the castle, least it should be a receptacle of rebels."
The castle was rebuilt by Archbishop Hamilton, and what stands to-day is mostly his work, though portions are represented by the guides as being much older. "A genial keeper was one day conducting a party of tourists over the ruins, and was describing their various parts and explaining the uses to which they were put in the heyday of the castle.
'This, gentlemen,' he said, 'is the room used by Cardinal Beaton, and that,' pointing to the opening, 'is the window from which he wit nessed the burning of George Wishart the martyr.' 'But,' interrupted one of the party, 'this is not Beaton's castle; what remains is the work of Archbishop Hamilton.' 'I ken that,' replied the keeper, 'but if I were to pay off Cardinal Beaton and George Wishart I might just as well close the gate.'"
The ruins of St. Andrews Castle, standing on a bold headland washed by the North Sea, offer a conspicuous landmark to manners. The castle was very extensive, but is now reduced to a very ruinous condition. It was originally a courtyard about one hundred and fifty feet square, partly surrounded by a moat, with towers at each corner.
The entrance was once through the central tower of the south side, the highest portion of the ruins. A new gate, reached by a drawbridge, was later cut through the north curtain on this side. Little of the internal arrangements remains. The chief items of interest to visitors are the bottle dungeon in the northwest dungeon, and a subterranean passage under the moat, recently discovered.
Glamis Castle, near Forfar, Tayside
Situated just west of Forfar, this splendid seat of the Strathmores is referred to by Shakespeare in Macbeth, Macbeth having killed Duncan there in 1040, and it is also there that King Malcolm II was murdered by assassins in 1034. It is the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and is also the birthplace of Princess Margaret.
High up in the uninhabited West Tower is the room where the ghost of "Earl Beardie" perpetually gambles with the "devil". "Earl Beardie" was Alexander, Fourth Earl of Crawford during the days of James II of Scotland, who had a quarrel with the Lord Glamis of the day whilst they were gambling with two other Scottish chieftains.
During the argument "Beardie", who was a giant of a man, was thrown down the stone staircase but returned, stamping his feet with rage and bellowing that if no man would play with him he would play with the very "devil" himself.
Instantly a tall dark man, wearing a long cloak, walked into the room and play began between himself and "Beardie". It is not known what happened after that but the tall dark man was never seen again and "Beardie" died five years afterwards. Legend says that the tall dark man was the "devil" and that "Beardie" has indeed "sold his soul" as a result of the gambling.
Following his death the ghost of "Beardie" was often heard, stamping has feet and swearing at "something" in rage in the room and even today castle servants are adamant that they often hear the rattle of dice at night, heavy stamping noises and the sound of men swearing at each other from the direction of the locked and empty room.
The ghost of "Beardie" has been seen many times, including several modern appearances. Lord Halifax certainly saw him when he spent a night there. "Beardie" has also been seen on the roof on stormy nights at a spot known as "Mad Earl's Walk", swearing and raging. He has been seen by residents and guests alike, adults and children, leaning over their beds and peering at them. The sightings and sounds always happen at 4 o'clock in the morning.
Although it is not known who the tall dark man in the cloak was there is a distinct possibility that he was yet another of the many ghosts of Glamis. The Provost of Perth was to see this same figure enter his room one night dressed in a long dark cloak, walking across the room and disappearing through the far wall. The same figure was seen by Dr. Nicholson, Dean of Brechin, when he awoke to find the figure standing at the side of his bed looking down at him. The figure later disappeared through a wall. Dr. Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, was to see the same figure the following night.
The Haunted Chamber, or Secret Room, it's position is only known to a few, is thought to have got it's name from the feuding days when a number of the Ogilvy Clan, fleeing from the Lindsays after a terrible slaughter, sought shelter at Glamis. Although they were admitted the then owner of Glamis had no sympathy for them, and on the pretence of hiding them, secured the visitors in a remote spot of the Castle and literally left them there to starve to death.
It is said that the Chamber contains the ghosts of the Ogilvys. Many years ago the then Lord Strathmore and some companions went to the Haunted Chamber following many disturbances said to have come from that part of the Castle. Strathmore is said to have collapsed when he encountered the contents of the unventilated chamber. Piles of skeletons lay twisted and contorted in the last agonies of starvation. Some are even thought to have died in the act of eating the flesh from their own arms. Even today the bare chamber is thought to have a sense of uneasiness.
In a room, thought to be adjacent to the Haunted Chamber, a woman, spending the night at Glamis, is said to have seen the tall figure of a man in armour passing through her room and enter the next room in which her son lay asleep. The poor boy awoke to find this figure staring at him, peering very closely. Those who have come close to discovering the location of the Haunted Chamber have been paid large sums of money and forced to emigrate, after swearing on oath that they would never breath a word of what they had seen.
Some years ago a party of youngsters, spending a holiday at Glamis, made up their minds to discover whether or not the secret room had a window. Whilst Lord Strathmore and his family were out shooting for the day the youngsters visited every room in the castle and hung towels and sheets out to mark them.
They were sure that they had visited every room but when they gathered outside they counted no less than seven windows with nothing hanging from them. It is said that Lord Strathmore was furious when he returned and put a stop to further exploration. The location of the Haunted Chamber still remains a mystery except for those few who are allowed to know.
"The White lady", who haunts the Clock Tower, and who has been seen gliding around the main avenue, is thought to be Janet Douglas, wife of the Sixth Earl of Glamis, who was put to the stake at Castle Hill, Edinburgh, in 1537 following her trial on a charge of witchcraft. It is thought that she may have been connected with an attempt to murder King James V. Her spectre, surrounded by a reddish glow, has been frequently seen in both locations.
The ghostly little Black Boy, who sits on a stone seat by the door leading into the Queen Mother's sitting room, is thought to be the ghost of a Negro servant who was unkindly treated at Glamis in the middle of the 18th century. A small dressing-room off the Queen Mother's main bedroom used to be haunted. People who have slept there have often felt their bedclothes being pulled off the bed but there have been no disturbances since the room was converted into a bathroom.
A former Lord Castleton's daughter woke during the night she was spending at the castle to see the figure of "a huge old man" seated in front of the fire in her bedroom. When he turned to face her she observed that his face was "that of a dead man".
The figure of a Grey Lady has been seen many times in the chapel dedicated to St Michael. On one occasion she was seen by a Mrs Hunter, who worked and lived at Glamis, whilst she was in the chapel intending to arrange some flowers. Normally seen kneeling in one of the pews, the Grey Lady has also been seen by Lady Granville, sister of the Queen Mother, who was able to describe the dress she was wearing and who was also able to observe the sunlight shining through the chapel window, shining through the outline of the figure and making a pattern on the floor.
A recent Lord Strathmore saw her on one occasion when he went into the chapel to look at a picture on one of the walls. Not wishing to disturb her he quietly left the chapel. The Grey Lady has also been seen walking into the chapel. Nobody knows who she is or why she visits the chapel.
The Hangman's Chamber is never used these days. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of a butler who hanged himself there.
The tongueless figure of a woman with large mournful eyes, pressing her pale face against a window as if appealing for help, and clutching her hands at the bars, has been seen on several occasions looking out of a latticed upper window before apparently being dragged away as if by someone who has leaped up behind her.
The scene is always followed by violent screams. She has also been seen running across the park, pointing in anguish to her bloody mouth. Did this poor woman suffer having her tongue cut out because she learned one of the secrets of Glamis Castle?
There are persistent reports of a strange, elusive, thin figure, nicknamed "Jack the Runner", who has been seen many times racing across the park on moonlit nights towards the castle.
The legend of the Monster of Glamis relates to somewhere around the turn of the 18th/19th centuries, when a grotesque and bloated monster was born to be Heir of Glamis. Completely misshapen, he had no neck, very small arms and legs, and looked like "a flabby egg", half-human, half-monster.
In spite of such deformities he is said to have been immensely strong and is reputed to have lived for nearly 150 years, some people thinking that he finally died in 1921. He lived in a special room at the castle, where he was kept from everybody's eye. His existence was known to only four men at one time, the Earl of Strathmore, his heir, the family lawyer and the factor of the estate. At the age of 21 each succeeding heir was told the secret and shown the rightful Earl.
Succeeding family lawyers and factors were also told of the secret, but at any one time no more than four knew of the existence of the Monster. As no Countess of Strathmore was ever told the story, one Lady Strathmore, having heard rumours approach the then factor, Mr Ralston, who flatly refused to reveal the secret saying "it is fortunate you do not know the truth for if you did you would never be happy", a reference presumably to the unhappy state of several Earls of Strathmore during the suspected lifetime of the Monster.
Even now it is suspected that the remains of the Monster are still retained in the secret room. Mr Ralston, who was described as a shrewd, hard-headed Scot, would never sleep in the castle under any circumstances. One night, when he had worked late, a sudden snowstorm came on. Pressed to stay for the night he refused to do so and insisted that a path be dug in the snow to his house nearly a mile away.
Offering strength to the belief of a hideous monster being born into the family, is a portrait hung in the drawing-room. It depicts a previous Earl of Strathmore with his two sons and an indescribably ugly deformed dwarf.
Drummond Castle ... Drummond Clan ....Motto.... ( Gang Warily ) ....
Drummond Castle was built by the Drummonds from Stobhall in 1491. After it was built, the castle became the residence and seat of the family. The castle itself is located outside of Crieff, 25 miles away from Stobhall, which is near Perth on the river Tay. The original portions of the castle are a classical tower keep that is found frequently in Scotland.
During the 1600's additions were made to the castle for the Earl of Perth. It was John Mylne of Perth, Master Mason to King Charles I, that was commissioned to make the alterations and additions. One was the gateway below the great tower with the date 1630 carved on the gables.
During this time the formal gardens at Drummond Castle were laid. It included stone work and statues that came from the Continental Europe as well as a carved stone sundial that was the work of John Mylne of Perth. The castle gardens are sometimes called the pride and jewel of the highlands.
Around 1650, the Drummonds were removed from Drummond Castle to Stobhall for their loyalty to Charles I. After leaving, Drummond Castle was garrisoned by Cromwell's troops. It wasn't until after Cromwell left Scotland were the Drummonds able to return.
The Duchess of Perth was imprisoned within the castle for having sheltered Prince Charlie at Drummond Castle. She stayed there until her death in 1773.
Drummond Castle has even made it to the silver screen. In the movie "Rob Roy, legends of the mist", Drummond Castle and Gardens were used for the residence of Montrose. All of the castle shots, both exterior and interior was done on site at Drummond Castle. In one scene of the movie, you see the camera pan up from a gate to the gardens to the shield above it. They are the arms of Drummond. As to the castle now, it is now the residence of Lady Willoughby de Eresby, a descendent of Sir John Drummond through the female line. The gardens are open to the public during the summer.
The Drummonds were loyal to Scotland and her Kings. They served the House of Bruce and then later the House of Stuart. For over 500 years they served, and no better was an ally than a Drummond. The Drummond Chiefs held some of the highest offices in both the government and the military. The Drummond ladies were of such beauty that two were crowned Queen of Scotland. It is even rumored that there may have been a third. Drummonds have also been known for their temper. In Perth in the 17th century, there was a prayer, "From the ire of the Drummonds, Good Lord deliver us!"
According to legend, the Drummonds are descendent from Yorik de Marot. Yorik was the Royal Admiral to Hungary and a grandson of King Andrew of Hungary. It was he who took the perilous journey, in winter, to reach the Scottish shore at Stirling. It was he who delivered unto Malcolm Canmore, St. Margaret, the future queen of Scotland.
This was in the early 11th century. The king was grateful and granted lands which were to become the ancestral homeland of the Drummonds. One source states that a Donald of Drymen fought in Malcolm Canmore's army against MacBeth in 1056, and that this was the reason for the grant of lands. It may be that Yorik married into the highlands clan and became its chief.
The earliest ancestor, of unbroken decent, is that of Malcolm Begg, or "Little Malcolm" of Drymen, who in 1225 was the Thane of Lennox. Malcolm received his name due to his stature. He was the Earl of Lennox's Seneschal. It was from this time, and the lands if Drymen, that the Clan Chiefs of Drummond are known as "An Drumanach Mor" - "The Great man of Drymen." It was Malcolm's son, Sir Malcolm, that took the name Drummond.
Sir Malcolm, in the wars with England, was their bane. In 1296, at the Battle of Dunbar, the English captured Malcolm and sent him to London. Sir Malcolm was released only after swearing allegiance to the King and promising to fight with the English in France. It wasn't long before Malcolm was once again in Scotland and causing trouble for the English. In 1301 he was captured again to the great joy of King Edward I.
Sir Malcolm II, son of Malcolm, was the hero of Bannockburn in 1314. It was he, after realizing that the Scots would not be able to withstand the charge of the cavalry, who took matters into his own hands by having the ground between his men and the English heavy cavalry strewn with caltrops.
These are small iron devices with four sharp points, not unlike the jacks kids play with today. The English horses were brought down by these, and as the mounted soldiers lay helpless, they were killed by the waiting Clans. It was this ingenuity that gave the Drummond Chiefs the right to display caltrops on a field of green beneath the Chief's shield. King Robert the Bruce also rewarded Malcolm with extensive lands near Perth for this service.
In 1345, Sir John Drummond married the Maid of Monfichets. With the marriage came the estates of Stobhall on the river Tay, which have remained in the family since and is the residence of the present Chief. It has also been the home of two Scottish Queens and a royal mistress.
Margaret, sister of John Drummond, won the heart of King David II, who was the son of Robert the Bruce. They were married in 1363, and she was crowned queen.
In 1366 Annabella the beautiful, daughter of Sir John Drummond, became the wife of John Stewart of Kyle. John was crowned Robert III, the second Stewart King. She was also the mother of James I. The royal families of Scotland and England claim their heritage from Robert and Annabella.
In 1491 Drummond Castle was built 25 miles from Stobhall, and 3 1/2 miles from Crieff. It is now the residence of Lady Willoughby de Eresby, a descendent of Sir John Drummond through the female line. Its castle gardens are sometimes called the pride and jewel of the highlands.
In 1498, the first Lord Drummond of Drummond received the Barony of Drummond which remained in the family until 1605, when the estates were sold.
In 1589 John Drummond was appointed Royal Forester of Glenartney. It was in this post that he had the ears of some MacGregor (one account says MacDonalds) poachers cropped. Clan MacGregor swore revenge and attacked Drummond and chopped off his head. They then proceeded to John's sisters residence, burst in, and demanded bread and cheese. The MacGregors then unwrapped John's head and crammed its mouth full. The feud between the two clans lasted for over a century.
Near the end of the 1500's, another Drummond, Margaret the fair, enraptured King James IV. She was, to him, "The diamond of Delight." Because of his love for her, James originally declined the marriage to Mary Tudor, daughter of the King of England, Henry VII. It is rumored that James had indeed married Margaret and was to have her crowned Queen of Scotland.
The nobles, mostly lowlanders and border Lords, feared that the Drummonds were becoming too powerful. They decided that Margaret must die, thus forcing James to marry the Tudor Princess. Margaret, and her two sisters, were poisoned. Shortly after, James married Mary Tudor, which made way for the union of the Scottish and English Crowns a century later.
In 1605, after James had been crowned King of Both England and Scotland, he elevated the Drummond Chief to that of the Earl of Perth. Around 1650, the Drummonds were removed from Drummond Castle to Stobhall for their loyalty to Charles I. After leaving, Drummond Castle was garrisoned by Cromwell's troops. During the Cromwell protectorate, Sir William Drummond was Governor of Smolensk in Muscovy. After his exile he had the dubious honor of bringing thumb screws back with him to Scotland.
In 1689, as the Highlands rose behind the Stuart flag, the Drummonds followed Bonnie Dundee into battle. At the battle of Killiecrankie the clan army attacked the English as it marched into the pass. Of the 3,000 English who went into the pass only 500 made it out alive.
When the rising was surprised, the Earl of Perth was captured and imprisoned at Kircaldy till 1693. After that, he and his brother followed James VII into exile. For their service to James, they were elevated to Dukes. The Duke of Perth was then made a Knight of the Golden Fleece, the highest order of knighthood in Spain.
By the end of the 17th century, the Drummonds were the most powerful Clan in Scotland. The Earl of Perth was Lord Chancellor; his brother, the Earl of Melfort, was Secretary of State. Their cousin, General Sir William Drummond, created Viscount Strathallan, was commander-in-chief of the army in Scotland. The first Duke of Perth was also awarded the Knight of the Garter for his service to James VII.
The Drummonds supported the Stuarts until the end. They helped in the uprising of 1715 and again in 1745. In 1746, the Highland Clans followed Bonnie Prince Charlie to Culloden, to fight for the Stuarts for the last time. The Drummonds were at the fore, with the Duke of Perth and his brother, the Duke of Melfort, commanding the left wing and the center of the battle line. However, within two hours, the clan army had been destroyed by the Hanoverian army.
The Duke of Perth followed the Prince into exile. John also went with them but died during the voyage due to his wounds. The Viscount of Strathallan was mortally wounded while rallying the cavalry. Even the Duchess of Perth was imprisoned for having sheltered Prince Charlie at Drummond Castle. She stayed there until her death in 1773. Loyalty had cost them everything.
It wasn't until 1784 that the Drummonds were restored to their lands. It wasn't until the 1830's that they received back their old titles.
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