Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria (1819–1901) ruled the United Kingdom from 1837 until her death. Her father was Prince Edward, duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III, and therefore at her birth she was nowhere near the top of the line of succession. Her father and grandfather, though, both died already in 1820, and George III’s three elder sons also passed away without (legitimate) issue. This meant that at the tender age of 18 Victoria ascended to the British-Irish throne. (Being a woman, she couldn’t also become king of Hanover like her male predecessors in office; that title went to her uncle Ernest August, duke of Cumberland and purportedly namesake of the eponymous fruit sauce, George III’s unpopular fifth son.) In 1840, she married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), with whom she had nine children. These were craftily married into other royal houses, which is why Victoria is also called “the grandmother of Europe”. Albert died in 1861, which did throw Victoria off track quite a bit. She mourned and mostly withdrew from public view.
Victoria became the “Highland queen” after Albert had purchased, in 1852, a manor house called “Balmoral” which was located near Crathie in Aberdeenshire. This very quickly proved too small and until 1856 was replaced by a castle-like mansion in “Scottish baronial” style, which until today remains the private property of the royal family and is used as a summer residence. It is surrounded by vast estates including agricultural lands, forests, and moorland, with herds of sheep, Highland cattle, ponies, and deer. Victoria and Albert had travelled to Scotland already in 1842 and returned several times in subsequent years. Victoria visited (the original) Balmoral for the first time in 1848 and was instantly captivated; Albert, on the other hand, felt reminded of his native Thuringia. Both of them returned to the castle often.
After Albert’s death, Victoria spent increasing periods of time in Balmoral, up to four months in early summer or autumn. In her grief she also sought solace from her loyal servant, John Brown, a ghillie (hunter’s assistant) from Crathie – even at the time the press insinuated a relationship that went far beyond the professional, but nothing was ever proven.
James Scott Skinner (1843–1927), the composer of the tune
Our Highland Queen
, came from Arbeadie in the parish of Banchory, Aberdeenshire – not so far from Balmoral – but grew up in Aberdeen. He learned to play the fiddle and cello and also qualified as a dance teacher. In 1862, as a dancer, he won a sword-dance competition in Ireland, and in 1863, as a musician, a strathspey and reel competition in Inverness. His reputation grew to a point where Queen Victoria charged him with teaching highland dancing and calisthenics to the royal household – he had 125 students there in 1868. We may assume that he had personally met the subject of his composition – to him, she was “our Highland queen” and he, at least in the eyes of his fans, “the Strathspey king”, so it must have been an acquaintance at eye level (especially since, in any event, modesty was not one of Skinner’s vices).
From “Anselm's Notes on Dances”, by Anselm Lingnau
(Used by permission.)