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Drumlanrig Castle

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Drumlanrig Castle is situated on the Queensberry Estate in southern Scotland, 19 miles north of Dumfries off the A76 road, 4 miles north of the village of Thornhill.

The castle grounds are open all year round for visits with a small entry fee. Tours of the castle can be booked all year round for parties. Individual visits to the castle are available certain times in the year, view the website for dates. Postcode: DG3 4AQ

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Drumlanrig is popular for its tours of the castle, art collection, cafe, shop, scenic gardens and estate walking, biking with bike hire available, vintage bike collection, kids play, fishing, shooting, and Land Rover tours into the hills.

Drumlanrig Castle was built in the 1680s for the first Duke of Queensberry, William Douglas, of the mighty Douglas Clan.

The present owners are the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry.

The castle holds part of the Buccleuch art collection, with Rembrandt’s An Old Woman Reading and Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Yarnwinder being worth £millions.

Madonna of the Yarnwinder was stolen in 2003. This 1500s painting had been bought in the 1700s by the third Duke of Buccleuch.

2003 August 27th - about 11am, two men acting as tourists took the £30 million masterpiece from a wall in Drumlanrig Castle and took off in an old Volkswagen Golf.

2007 September - John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch dies aged 84. His title and estate passed to his son Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch.

2007 October, the Liverpool based private detectives Robbie Graham and John Doyle claimed they had found the painting in Liverpool and set up a deal to return the painting for a reward.

Police investigating the return of the painting charged Graham, Doyle and the solicitor Marshall Ronald, acting on their behalf, with extortion.

2010 March - the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh found Graham, Doyle and Ronald not guilty of conspiring to extort money for the return of the painting.

The three men cleared in court have since claimed they are entitled to a reward, or money agreed would have been paid for the return of the painting. There are ongoing court cases concerning this issue.

The theft of the painting let to it becoming one of the most famous in the world. The painting is now often loaned out to galleries around the world for exhibitions.

Famous people to stay at the castle include Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, and the astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1971. The Prince Charlie bedroom is now one of the top attractions in the castle.

The castle was used as a hospital during WWI, and housed girls of St Denis School in Edinburgh during WWII.

John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch 1923 - 2007 was claimed to have been the largest landowner in the UK, and most interesting member of the Clan. He was often seen with Princess Margaret, leading to rumours he was to marry the princess. The end of the Royal romance led to the Duke marrying the top fashion model Jane McNeill in 1953.

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