Dance The Falkland Beauty 2053

On the edge of the Howe of Fife, beneath East Lomond Hill, the ancient Royal Burgh of Falkland, a town of gables and cobbles, clusters around the ruins and Renaissance remains of Falkland Palace, the pleasure grounds of the Stewart kings and queens. Here the Court took its ease, hawking and hunting stag and boar in the Royal Forest by day and feasting and dancing at night.

The original 13th century hunting tower of the MacDuffs, the Earls of Fife, came into Stewart hands in 1371 when Isobel, Countess of Fife in her own right, the widow of Walter Stewart, transferred the earldom to her brother-in-law, Robert Stewart, Earl of Menteith, later Duke of Albany, the third son of Robert II.

The ruined North Range of the palace was begun by James II (1430–1460) who created Falkland a Royal Burgh in 1458. The Great Hall was added by James III (1451–1488), where the king could indulge his love for music, and was renovated by James IV in 1502. In 1654 the North Range was burnt, probably accidentally, by the troops of Cromwell who were quartered there after the defeat of Charles II.

The East Range, begun by James IV (1473–1513) and completed by James V (1512-1542) contained the Royal Apartments, the Privy Dining Room, Presence Chamber and Guard Hall. The Cross House, jutting from this range into the Palace Gardens, contained the King’s bedchamber, where James V died on 14 December, 1542, three weeks after his army was crushed by the English at Solway Moss and one week after the birth of his daughter, Mary (1542–1587), at Linlithgow. It was in this room that James was purported to have said to Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, the Lord Lyon, who had brought him news of the birth of a daughter, not a son: “The De’il gang wi’ it. It will end as it began. It cam’ wi’ a lass and it will gang wi’ a lass.” The “lass” the Stewart sovereignty came with was Marjory Bruce, the daughter of Robert I, who married Walter, 6th Great Steward of Scotland, whose son became Robert II. The king’s dying prophecy was incorrect for the Stewart line did not end with Mary, but continued on the throne of a united Scotland and England until the death of Queen Anne (1665–1714).

The magnificent South Range, in all of its Renaissance glory, is the best preserved part of the palace. It is a tribute to the culture and artistic taste of both James IV and V. The facade of the South Range was embellished for James V by artisans brought from France to beautify the palace for first one and then the second of his French brides. On the front facing the courtyard are to be seen the carved medallions drawn from classical mythology. The faces of these otherwise allegorical beings are reputed to represent James IV and Margaret Tudor, James V with his queens, Magdalene of France and Marie de Guise, Cardinal Bethune, Sir David Lindsay of the Mount and three of the mistresses of James V, Margaret Erskine, Elizabeth Shaw and Euphemia, “Elphie”, Elphinstone. The Chapel Royal which is contained in this range was completed in 1512.

Beyond the Palace Gardens is the Royal Tennis Court built by James V in 1539 and still in use today.

However much they might have wished it, life at Falkland Palace was not all ease and relaxation from the cares of State for the Stewart rulers. Those were turbulent times and deeds of violence intruded even there. In 1402, David, Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne after Robert III, died at the palace under sinister circumstances after having been arrested and held prisoner by his uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany and Regent of Scotland. It was from Falkland in 1528 that young James V escaped from his powerful step-father, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, the second husband of Queen Margaret, who was possibly plotting the death of the sixteen year old king. In 1562, Queen Mary was in residence in the French atmosphere of the palace that was reminiscent of her childhood when word of a plot to abduct her was brought, a thwarted conspiracy that resulted in the arrest of James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran, and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and Mary’s future husband. James VI escaped from Falkland in 1582 in much the same manner as had his grandfather, when he was held prisoner there by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, whom he later beheaded, an act which resulted in the unsolved “Gowrie Conspiracy” of 1600, a mysterious attempt by John, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, to kidnap the king, to extract from him a large ransom or, indeed, to murder him. A further attempt at the abduction of James VI took place in 1592 when Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, the nephew of James Hepburn and pretender to the throne through his father, Lord Robert Stewart, a natural son of James V, unsuccessfully attacked Falkland’s gatehouse with three hundred horsemen.

Many of Falkland’s ancient houses have been preserved, some of them, once belonging to members of the Royal Household, have been preserved and restored. One house which still stands on the town’s square was the birthplace of Richard Cameron in 1648. (See “Greig’s Pipes Or The Cameronian Rant”)