During the 1960s, the world of the British aristocracy was rocked by the very public breakdown of the marriage between the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. The newspapers of the time were full of stories of drunkenness, drug-taking, violence, in fact the full range of horrors of a highly dysfunctional marriage. The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was dragged through the mud by the press, who labelled her the “Dirty Duchess”. This was the subject of one of the most heralded series from this last Christmas, A Very British Scandal, starring Claire Foy as Margaret and Paul Bettany as the Duke, Ian Campbell. The other star of the series was InverarayCastle, the real-life seat of the Dukes of Argyll since the 18th century. By all accounts, the current occupants of the castle were extremely welcoming to the production team and stars.
Inverary Castle, Argyll and Bute, Scotland-31May2010. Photo by Son of Groucho, via Wikimedia Commons.
Inveraray Castle started out as the stronghold of the Campbell chiefs, who later became the Dukes of Argyll. The original settlement of Inveraray consisted of a small group of cottages watched over by the original castle, but in the mid-18th century the third Duke had a new castle built, and also a new town further away from the castle than the original settlement, with the castle and town lying on the shore of Loch Fyne. The new version of the castle is a Gothic-style turreted wonder with interiors including the Armoury Hall and the Tapestry Drawing Room. Both the castle and the surrounding parkland and woodland are open to visitors. In 1975 there was a bad fire at the castle, and there were reports of local people forming a human chain in order to save some of its treasures.
Inveraray from Dun na Cuaiche - geograph.org.uk - 1883808. Photo by David Hawgood, via Wikimedia Commons.
Think you’ve seen Inveraray Castle before on the small screen? If you’re a Downton Abbey fan that will be because the castle featured in the 2012 Christmas special in which the Grantham family head north to the home of their cousins, ‘Duneagle Castle’, with the latter filmed at Inveraray.
