There are several portraits of the third Duke of Fife, yet his favorite family circle is one, a mural hidden in a giant space in the northeast, and it isn’t even there.
But the portrait around the now-disused pool at Elsick House in Cammachmore, near Stonehaven, is loved by those close to the past because of Duke as a fitting tribute to his life, said his stepdaughter, Caroline, Duchess of Fife.
“He also left us some portraits, but I wouldn’t say that none of them are our favorite, but they are. It has a total life. It’s full of fun, color and crazy, ”he said.
Caroline said the mural gave the typical impression of the duke, a momentary cousin of the queen who grew up with young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and had a playful and sassy streak that saw her be known as a “bad boy. “
“It was commissioned through my stepfather at least 30 years ago. He had an artist with him, along with two other friends, and he said he was looking for total mastery of the pool to be happy.
“He said ‘come on, let’s do this’ and they said ‘fantastic’,” Caroline said, adding that the task was done in about a week.
“And he sought to record other elements of his life. So, it has elements that are recognizable, but it is quite surreal at the same time. You have a combination of tigers with the Malay jungle, parrots and a bit of Scottish scenery to break it all, ”Caroline said, adding that the mural included the circle of family homes.
“It’s very crazy and classy, but it works and it’s fun,” he says.
James George Alexander Bannerman Carnegie, died five years ago, born in 1929 and grandson of Louise, princess royal, daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
First he attended school in Stonehaven, then Gordonstoun. He did his national service with the Scots Guards in Malaysia in 1948, as the Elsick House fresco shows.
“He is not a student at the school and did not pass the officer exams,” Caroline said. “At that time, he was the seventh on the throne. It was a big deal when he entered the Scots Guards as a guard. He will have to queue at the mall, while the rest of his circle of family members are divided into large cars.
“He made the most of it and the driving force of one of the generals in Malaysia. But he said it the most terrifying moment when passing through the jungle. Complete discomfort for all Scots Guards.
After his tenure as guardians, he studied land control and was content to lead a quiet life supervising control of his properties and spent many satisfied years at Elsick House, one of the houses in his circle of relatives.
The duke enjoyed Elsick. He stayed here his whole life until the end.
“He enjoyed Elsick, he enjoyed being here,” Caroline said. “He there, really, all his life until the end.
As a child, the duke’s close ties to the royal circle of relatives meant that he was occasionally in Balmoral for the circle of relatives celebrations and members of the royal circle of relatives visited Elsick House, adding to Princess Elizabeth attending birthday parties. .
“Queen Mary is absolutely normal here, like the Queen Mother,” Caroline said.
Not that it’s the duke’s playful streak.
“He was a bad boy,” Caroline said. “We have many trees that were planted here by members of the royal circle of relatives when they came. There’s a great picture of them walking away after planting the tree, and you can see my stepfather, who must have been 3 years old at the time, with his butt held high, digging up this he had just planted. “
The Queen was also a normal Balmoral guest as a child and they played together.
“She would say she knew my stepfather as a very bad kid,” Caroline said.
But did he ever get the princess in trouble?
“He never admitted it, but I think she’s too cunning for that. She may just have noticed that she’s getting close.
Caroline said her stepfather’s playful misdeeds are understandable.
“He is by no means an educational one and I think it is a sadness for his father. He lost his mother when he was 13, so he lost a bit. He made up for it by simply being mean. He drew attention to himself with all kinds of jokes. He has continued in this line his entire life. Even in the end, when he had caretakers, he would push and spank and make sure to put something bad in everything.
“He had a blink like that.
However, that took its toll.
“He was very excited about boring the butler when he was a kid,” Caroline said. “He dropped the tires on his motorcycle so he couldn’t go home at the end of his day.
“After a while it happened to the poor butler. He just “accidentally” locked the door on the silver safe. I think it had a lasting effect on him and subsequently he was terrified of all the small spaces.
Despite all his jokes, the duke became a speedy figure in his youth.
This led to a rarity at Elsick House, now a venue for weddings, vacation rentals, and personal functions. Your cabinets and even your silver have internalArray panic alarms . . . installed across the Duke, just in case it gets stuck again.
Despite all his jokes, the duke became a speedy figure in his youth. Handsome and stunning in his full kilt, he was photographed with a beautiful woman on his arm.
One of his lifelong passions is racing and fast cars. He drove a Bentley at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1955.
The duke also participated in the identity of the remains of Tsar Nicholas II. Lord Fife’s maternal grandmother, Queen Alexandra, and Nicholas’s mother were sisters, and the duke’s DNA showed that the bodies discovered outside Yekaterinburg after being shot by partisans were genuine.
But the duke himself is modest, says Caroline.
“He is a very shy man, a very generous man,” she said.
He was concerned with local affairs and devoted much of his time to helping Scottish institutions, adding the Braemar Gathering.
“He was concerned about local issues and devoted much of his time to helping Scottish institutions, adding that the Braemar Gathering maintains a long-standing family circle associated with the event. “
The 12-acre occasion site originally donated through the Duke of Fife in 1906 and is still known as the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park.
The duke was appointed vice president of collecting in 1959 and has maintained a good interest in the facets of the organization.
Caroline said the mural, which runs along one wall across the pool, features the circle of 3 family homes that the past duke knew and loved.
This included only Elsick House, but also Kinnaird Castle, near Brechin, as well as the old Farnell Castle, also near Brechin.
“It’s very old. Edward stayed there in the 1200s and it’s the Brechin bishops’ palace. He then joined the circle of relatives in the 14th century. He’s next to Kinnaird,” Array Caroline said.
The stylized portrait also of the duke’s beloved dog, Louis. “He was really bad,” Caroline said.
“You are not known for your love of exercise, my stepfather. ” His concept of going for a walk to get into the Land Rover with the dog in the passenger seat and do “walks” like that. “
There are many dukes who have a mural committed to their life. But it is a fitting tribute to this man, “Caroline said.
“He is,” she says. “Every day I checked it. “
However, after portraying for a few minutes, it becomes transparent that something is missing: the Duke. It is absolutely absent from his own mural.
“That says it all about his character,” Caroline said. “I wanted to be out of the limelight. He was an incredibly generous man, but he never sought to be the center of attention.
“He’s very shy, so it’s logical that he’s not in this photo. “
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