10/06/2026
The Drawing Room at Glamis Castle over the centuries 🏰✨
Originally the Great Hall in the 15th century, this space once hosted grand medieval banquets, including a visit from Mary, Queen of Scots in 1562. Long tables would have filled the room, later cleared for dancing once the feasting was over.
Its most significant transformation came in the early 17th century, when John, 2nd Earl of Kinghorne, had the stone walls plastered and commissioned Italian-style decorative plasterwork for the ceiling. The ceiling, which can still be admired today, bears the monograms of the Earl and his wife, Margaret Erskine, and is dated 1621.
In the second image, an 1866 photograph from Flo Graeme’s collection, a close friend of the 13th Earl and Countess of Strathmore, we begin to recognise many of the features that still define the Drawing Room today.
A painting by Conrad H.R. Carelli in 1895 depicts the Drawing Room at the height of Victorian splendour. The London-born artist came from a family of Italian painters and was known for producing gem-like watercolours inspired by his travels across Britain and Europe. His depiction captures the room during a period when grand interiors were often adorned with exotic plants such as palm trees, bringing a sense of the wider world into aristocratic homes.
In the early 20th century, the room was captured in a remarkable family portrait painted by Alessandro Catani Chiti in 1909, showing the 14th Earl and Countess with their children, including Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, later HM The Queen Mother, and her youngest brother, David, building houses of cards in the foreground.
By 1950, the Drawing Room already feels familiar to today’s visitor, with much of its historic character carefully preserved. The fifth image forms part of a series of postcards created that same year, when the Castle first opened its doors to the public.
The final photograph brings us to the Drawing Room as it appears today.
