Glamis Castle

Glamis was a royal hunting lodge before King Robert II granted the Thanage of Glamis to Sir John Lyon in 1372, and the castle the visitor sees today was built up from the 1400s by his descendants, the Lords Glamis and later the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne. It has never left the family. The historical King Macbeth, who died in 1057, had no connection with the place, but that has not stopped Shakespeare's "Thane of Glamis" from attaching himself to the castle's reputation.

The darkest chapter in the real history belongs to Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, widow of John, the 6th Lord. Caught up in James V's hatred of the Douglas family, she was accused of witchcraft and of conspiring to poison the king. On the evidence of witnesses later said to have been coerced, she was convicted and burned at the stake on Castle Hill in Edinburgh in 1537. The chapel ghost known as the Grey Lady is said to be her.

The later Lyons were prolific builders and hosts. Mary, Queen of Scots stayed here, the castle was remodelled in the 17th century, and in the 20th it became a royal home. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, daughter of the 14th Earl, grew up at Glamis and went on to marry the future George VI; their second daughter, Princess Margaret, was born in the castle on 21 August 1930. It was also into this well-documented family that, on 21 October 1821, the eldest son of the 11th Earl was born and, according to the records, died the same day. From that entry in the register grew the legend of the Monster of Glamis.

Glamis has been talked about as a haunted house since at least the mid-19th century, and the best-known account concerns the secret room rather than a ghost. The diplomat Sir Horace Rumbold wrote of a house party in the 1850s at which the Countess of Strathmore and her guests, with the earl away, went round the castle opening every window and hanging out "a sheet, or towel, or pocket handkerchief" so that they could count them from outside. With "innumerable white signals fluttering in the summer breeze", they reportedly found one window with nothing in it, and could not account for the room behind it. Lord Strathmore returned unexpectedly and, in Rumbold's telling, was furious. Guests have reportedly been counting the windows ever since.

The royal family's own connection has added to the lore. The Queen Mother grew up here and was said to have had her own encounters, and her sister Lady Granville reportedly spoke openly of seeing the Grey Lady in the chapel. Later visitors and staff have claimed the usual repertoire of a big old house: doors that open on their own, footsteps in empty corridors, a sudden chill in the chapel, and the sound of Earl Beardie's dice from behind the wall.

The sceptical view is fairly put by the Scottish press, which has revisited the "200-year-old mystery" of the Monster more than once: the 1821 child is recorded as dying the day he was born, no secret room has ever been found, and the stories swelled in the Victorian era when Glamis was a fashionable country-house destination full of guests with time to talk. The castle neither confirms nor denies any of it, which is exactly the right answer.

Glamis Castle is a working family home and one of Scotland's great visitor houses, about five miles south-west of Forfar in Angus, a mile north of Glamis village off the A94. The castle is open daily from spring to the end of October and is seen by guided tour only; tours last around 50 minutes and take in the crypt, the chapel where the Grey Lady is said to kneel, the drawing room and the royal apartments. Check the castle's website for current dates and times before you travel. The grounds and gardens stay open on selected days into December, and there are pinetum and walled-garden walks, the Castle Kitchen restaurant, the Old Larder for something quicker and a well-stocked gift shop.

The castle does not run ghost hunts or overnight vigils, and there is no accommodation in the castle itself, but Glamis village, Forfar and Kirriemuir are all close, with Dundee about 12 miles south. Expect stairs and uneven stone floors on the tour; parking is on site and free.