Inveraray

'Its terrain covers more than 60,000 glorious acres of Western Scotland,

and includes large parts of the ruggedly beautiful island of Tiree.

For centuries, its grand seat, Inveraray Castle,

has housed the chieftain of one of the world's best known family clans,

the Clan Campbell.

For more than 500 years,

the castle has stood proud on the western shore of Loch Fyne,

Scotland's longest saltwater sea loch.

It is

the 13th Duke of Argyll,

His Grace Torquhil Ian Campbell...'

I am the Clan Chief.

Oh, well, nice to meet you.

Oh, my goodness, the Duke!

'..his wife Eleanor, whose family own the Cadbury's chocolate empire...'

Hello, how do you do?

I'm Eleanor.

'..and their three children.

Running an

in the 21st century

is a far cry from times gone by.'

Today's been good.

It's been very busy, hasn't it?

We had the cruise ships, we had lots of tourists.

It's been busy.

And of course, a large amount of Campbells as well.

'It represents a daily challenge for a young couple

around the clock

to maintain a proud tradition that stretches back for centuries.'

Actually taking this place on

was just something that I'd prepared myself for all my life.

'And yet, the grand fortress so very nearly came to a premature end

when calamitous misfortune struck in 1975.'

I was here with my mother, it was mid-afternoon.

And there I was, standing, watching the bonfire.

Nobody else was watching the bonfire.

They were watching the castle burn down.

That, to me, is something I will never ever forget.

'The shore of beautiful Loch Fyne

has hosted an Inveraray Castle since the 15th century.

The castle that is today the

spiritual home to Campbells across the globe

took 43 years to build.

The present Duke and his family occupy two floors,

the rest of the castle is open to paying customers,

many of them Campbells from all over the world,

who come to see

the clan chieftains

of one of Scotland's most powerful families once lived.

And ho

lives now.

Over a checkered history straddling hundreds of years,

Campbells have led the nation,

and have fought and died

sides of attritional wars.

Today, weapons used in these

wars adorn the walls of the castle's great hall.

Under the tallest ceiling in Scotland

are over 1,800 examples of arms and armory through the ages -

halberds, pistols...

shields...

..and muskets.'

My mother was very keen on black powder muzzle-firing weapons.

And we actually restored qui

few to firing order.

We used to fire them as, you know, younger children.

Which was quite impressive,

you pull the trigger and there's a puff of smoke and a bang

and off goes the musket ball.

As children, we used to sit there in the evenings and melt lead

and pour them in and make musket balls.

I come from a good Quaker family.

We don't even...

Whenever there's been a war, we've been the ones dr

ambulances.

So not even soldiers, not a family of soldiers at all.

The family traditionally supported the British Crown.

But the 8th Earl,

fell out of favor with King Charles I.

He was a very strong Presbyterian

and he lost his head.

Then his son, the 9th Earl, restored the good name of the family.

But he fell out of favor with King James VII.

And he lost his head as well.

Now we have here, in this particular showcase,

the Bible that he had in his prison cell the night before he was executed.

What makes it particularly gory is,

he's actually marked the Bible in his own personal blood,

of the various chapters he wanted people to read.

He was beheaded in Edinburgh in 1685 by the maiden,

which was the Scottish guillotine.

In those days, the Scots were pretty brutal.

With the guillotine, the blade comes down on the back of your head,

as you're facing down.

But with the maiden, you have to face up and the blade comes down on your throat.

You can actually see it as it comes down.

But I've no intention of being taken by the maiden.

There's two very strong genetic traits that run in the family.

One is the nose and the the other is squint eyes.

If you look at a couple of t

you see the same thing.

And I have to say, I carry on the same trait.

It didn't put me off

but we've just spent a lot of time having the elder son's eyes done.

The teacher at school said, "We think he might have slightly squint eyes."

"Yes."

So a lot of testing goes on.

But these days, it's quite fixable, luckily.

'The first stone of what was to become the fabulous Inveraray Castle

was laid in 1746,

even as the dying fires of the Jacobite rebellions were finally snuffed out

at the Battle of Culloden.

This new era in Scottish history meant that for the first time,

Scottish castles were being designed not as fearsome fortresses,

but as showcases of their owners' extravagant wealth and hospitality.

In its heyday, Inveraray Castle employed over 60 servants.

Today, there are four full-time employees

and 21 part-time staff members.

Being a duke is an hereditary title

that is passed down from father to son.

But how exactly does one become a duchess?'

I was a friend of Torquhil's sister.

I was in the car with Louise, my now sister-in-law.

We were driving past and I said, "Wow, look at that!"

She said, "That's where we're going."

I could hear my mother going, "You should've done your research,

realized who you were staying with."

I just thought I was going to stay with Louise.

I met Torquhil when I was 19.

I'm very glad I didn't marry him then.

So, 13 years later, we finally got married.

And this is my wedding dress,

which I wore on 8th June, 11 years ago.

It was designed by Bruce Oldfield, it was amazing.

It was stunning, it was a very beautiful coat for the day,

and in the evening, the coat came off

and there was an elegant party dress underneath.

So I was a lucky girl - poor Dad.

(Chuckles)

I never assumed I'd marry anyone in particular.

I was a little surprised myself when I ended up with this place to look after.

'Today, all hands are on deck

as the Duke and Duchess are expecting over 1,000 visitors to the castle.

Over the yea

played backdrop to events

as varied as they are numerous.

Today is the turn of the International Vintage Automobile Club.

Members pay up to £2,000 to take part in the rally.

This year, the tour takes in Scotland.

And today's much anticipated stop is at Inveraray Castle,

where they are to be greeted personally by the Duke of Argyll.'

Welcome to Inverar

I'm the Duke.

(Bagpipes playing)

This is my castle you've come to today.

Australia - Melbourne, Australia.

We shipped the car to London in a container,

and we've driven up from London for the rally, specially.

I think it's great.

I'm not too sure how we're going to fit all 250 cars in.

But so far, looking good.

And the weather's still dry, which helps.

It's great to see.

You're driving along the roads in Argyll and you see this lot coming,

you think, "Crikey, what's going on?"

- Have you had a good drive so far?

- Oh, yes.

It's amazing to see quite so many of these cars all together, it's extraordinary.

You brought it all the way over from the States?

You have?

From San Diego?

Brilliant, amazing.

A bit of a road trip.

Well, it's a boat trip, an airplane trip...

and then some rain.

We actually had a day and a half of nice weather.

Most cars have got two people in them.

That's another 500 people here.

'And that's 500 people who need to be fed

in the castle tearoom.

And who will also be paying to be shown around the house,

in the company of Head Guide, Stafford Day.'

I think people come here for a day out, for a bit of fun.

A little bit of education but mostly fun.

And so they're

happy mood when they arrive.

And I like to hope they're even happier when they leave.

'The guest

traditional Scottish welcome

from Inveraray Castle's resident piper, Iain Campbell,

whom eagle-eyed fans of a certain award-winning television series

might recognize.'

(DUKE) He's a really nice piper.

I hasten to add, he's a Campbell as well.

And

at my wife and my wedding.

on Downton Abbey.

(DUCHESS) It was brilliant, we were so lucky.

Downton's such a massive thing at the moment.

And we heard that they wanted to film in Scotland.

Or Ireland, they were looking at somewhere more rugged.

They wanted to go somewhere for their shooting, stalking, fishing,

for their autumn break, so we were very lucky.

They said, "Have you got a castle,

have you got typically Scottish deer, rivers, mountains, water?"

We kept saying, "Yes, we've got all that."

They came up to do a recce and they wanted to see deer.

They were sitting there with their film crews.

Apparently, deer were walking past the camera, practically waving.

So we were very lucky, and there were amazing rainbows.

It was brilliant and then we got chosen, which was really exciting.

'The title of Duke of Argyll,

along with its many responsibilities,

including those of Clan Chieftain of Campbells worldwide,

is handed down through the male line of the family.

The present Duke took over the 11 years ago.'

Actually taking this place on was something I'd prepared myself for all my life.

You know, I'd been to school,

I went to the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester.

I was the first person in the family to actually go and learn or study

how to run a rural estate.

Whereas in previou

they all joined the army.

So when I said to my father,

that, no, I didn't want to join the army,

because I wasn't very good at taking orders from other people,

he was actually very disappointed.

Every generation does it their own way.

My p

different way to the way we're doing it.

In today's situation, today's environment,

I think it's got to be run as a business.

It's got to work for itself.

But I

passionate about the family,

about the castle, about trying to maintain this amazing heritage we have.

To me, it's...

I

a responsibility,

rather than a duty.

'As the Austin Healeys make their way out of Inveraray,

the Duke and his estate manager, Andrew Montgomery,

hurry in the opposite direction.

A neighbor's sheep are destroying newly-planted trees on estate lands.

The hungry animals have already cost the Duke thousands of pounds.

If they're not stopped quickly, the damage could run into hundreds of thousands.'

Not only have we got deer to contend with and ticks to contend with,

and weevils to contend wit

all sorts of things,

we've now got our neighbor's sheep to contend with.

We've got stalkers who can shoot the deer.

However, we can't go and shoot our neighbor's sheep.

It is against the law to do that

So I'm in a Catch-22 situation,

whereby I'm trying to be neighborly but there is a limit.

bit of a laugh sometimes together.

They both say they started on the job at the same time.

(ANDREW) Did very well that year.

A bumper year.

'Andrew is responsible

Duke of Argyll's vast landholdings

that stretch across the west coast of Scotland.

He joined forces with the Duke 11 years ago,

having previously managed the

estates of Blenheim Palace,

birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.'

It's just myself and the Duke.

For us, it works brilliantly well like that.

We have a good relationship with each other.

I think he trusts me to get on with things.

I look after the legal side, I do all of the agreements.

I don't have a financial controller,

I don't have a property director,

I don't have this, I don't have that.

That's me.

But within the estate, I think

we have up to ten different businesses,

including the castle and renewables businesses,

property development businesses.

So it's all happening, there's such a lot going on.

And of course, it's vast.

So I could be here one day, I could be on the Isle of Tiree the next day,

I could be on Mull the next day.

I try and spread myself as thinly as I can

but there's a limit.

(DUKE) One of the very positive aspects of the estate here

is that we're a very, very diverse estate.

The

tourism part of it,

it's the castle, it's the visitors.

And my wife and I probably spend a di

amount of time

making sure that's right.

Because that's the impression everybody gets, that's what people see.

Behind that, there is a huge business that people don't see,

which is forestry, agriculture,

hydropower, wind power, bio-fuels,

mi

commercial property, residential property,

sporting - shooting and fishing.

And that is very important as well.

Because it all keeps the whole thing rolling.

This

replanted.

They're coming over the hill and working their way through the plantation,

pulling out the trees.

So they pull it out, take a bite and move on to the next one?

Exactly, and they're working their way across.

And onto this side also.

You can see it

One of our golden eagles.

Yeah, see it just above the wood.

This is the problem, as you can see.

That's supposed to be growing in the ground.

Sheep come along and they...

Unlike deer, a deer will nip the top off,

then they'll nip this piece

nip this piece,

they'll just strip the side but you've still got something growing,

which will grow again from the bottom or the side.

But Mr. Sheep comes along, and he pulls it out and pulls it right out of the ground.

Then we're left with that lying on the ground,

which, of course, when these roots dry out, is dead and useless.

I mean, how much is that, a tree?

Well, that's over a pound, £1.40 to put into the ground.

And, you know, it's...

Multiply that.

There's two there.

You only need 100 of those and it's a couple of hundred pounds.

Then multiply that by the site.

You know, it gets into thousands of pounds very quickly.

If we don't do anything about this, if we don't replant,

then we'll have our grant taken away by the Forestry Commission.

That's why, on Sunday morning when I could've been doing something better,

I was having a discussion with my neighbor about her sheep.

They know the problem.

If it was the other way round,

I'm sure they'd be shouting down the phone to me.

'While the Duke keeps busy with the estate,

the Duchess immerses herself in a relatively new undertaking.

Last year, Eleanor organized the inaugural Best of the West Festival.

It's that time again.

Back at the castle, she has invited a team made up of people from the town,

for a meeting to discuss this year's upcoming event.'

We'll get that off as well.

Our line-up's amazing, we've got the Red Hot Chili Pipers, Skerryvore,

Inveraray Pipe Band, new talent up and coming,

The Mighty Camans.

Complete mixture.

It's brilliant.

We realized we were sitting on this amazing pocket of really good food

and really good music and really good whatever.

I'm lucky, we've got talented people around us, we bring everyone in together.

We've set up an amazing weekend, I hope, for anyone who can make it here.

Last year, we had 5,000 people who came mainly from the top

half of England

and all across Scotland.

Then quite a few overseas visitors to celebrate what's great around here.

Sponsorship, have we got any update on that?

Caledonian Mac

I need to chase as well.

And I've had an email from Chivas Brothers,

saying they're very interested.

But I haven't heard any more, so fingers crossed.

(DUCHESS) We've got amazing seafood and lamb,

we've got Mull cheddars, we've got smoked salmon and oysters from Taynuilt,

which is half an hour down the road.

And amazing music - within an hour of here, we have all sorts of talent,

that is great to use.

I want people to come even if they're not interested in the history side.

If they come here for a family weekend,

they might think, "This is a great place, I'd like to come back."

'It's the end of a busy day in the life of the Duke and Duchess.

And with the River Aray flowing at the bottom of the garden,

the Duke likes nothing better than a spot of fishing.'

I'm so lucky, the river's at the bottom of the garden.

I can pop out for 20 minutes, half an hour.

It's not a sort of full-day excursion.

So any opportunity I get, I'm usually found down on the river.

It's very early in the year.

I could tell you I caught a really big one yesterday,

but I've just dusted off my rod for the first time this season.

'Even in his downtime,

the wellbeing of the estate is always on the Duke's mind.'

The most important thing for me and my wife

is that, you know, the people that actually come,

they go home with amazingly good memories.

They tell their friends.

And they encourage other people to come back.

I want the experience to be the best it possibly can.

Or the best I can possibly offer.

You never get it perfect but you can always make it better.

It's always a challenge.

This is the River Aray.

So this is where the town gets its name from.

And also the castle - Inveraray Castle.

So "in

"the mouth of".

And the Aray is the name of the river.

Amazing wildlife.

You've got the sound of the water and the birds.

My mother was the sort of outdoor character of the family.

And now I'm taking my children.

They don't really have the patience for it yet.

They come down here, they want to catch something instantaneously.

You know, fishing's all about you "might" catch something.

Th

than fresh fish.

You catch it, it can be on your plate in half an hour.

But generally speaking, we p

Because these wild fish - wild salmon, wild sea trout,

are actually quite rare these days.

Out of the long list of titles that I've got,

the only one that can't be taken away is MacCailein Mor,

which is Chief of Clan Campbel

And that, of course, is a blood title.

And

to be who I am.

So quite a big responsibility, you know.

It's a big global family.

One of the biggest Scottish names.

And, yeah, I'm the Clan Chief.

You scared them all away.

'You would think that being the 13th Duke of Argyll,

Marquess of Kintyre and Lorne,

Earl of Argyll, Campbell and Cowal,

Viscount Lochawe and Glenisla,

Lord Campbell of

Inveraray,

Mull, Morvern and Tiree...

would be pretty much a full-time job.

But the Duke of Argyll has one other title to add to the list.

He is also International Ambassador

for Royal Salute whisky made by Chivas Brothers.

The Royal Salute distillery is a four hour-drive away

in the Highland village of Keith.

(DUKE) I travel the world, I promote the brand.

I am Scottish born and bred.

Scotland is in my blood.

And, you know, every Scotsman that I know

is passionate about what is arguably the No.1 export from the Scottish mainland,

excluding oil.

Whisky's in my blood, it's in my family.

'Today, the Duke is meeting up with Colin Scott,

Chivas Brothers' Master Blender.

Colin is the custodian of the in the world

who knows what

the famous blends.'

(COLIN) ..1973.

So this ha

for about 40 years.

And each year, we lose about two per cent per annum,

as the cask breathes this nice cool air,

the whisky matures.

So every year, we lose about two per cent.

So 80 per cent has gone out of this cask already.

But that leaves beautiful, rich, intense whisky.

Strathisla.

So what's gone is the angels' share?

The angels are just enjoying life in this warehouse.

(DUKE) I wouldn't mind being the angel above that one.

And then the really special ones in the vault.

Absolutely.

Very special.

Well, this is the mo

bottle of blended Scotch whisky in the world.

And it is Royal Salute Tribute to Honour.

The

done by Garrards of London,

the crown jewelers.

The flagon itself is made of the finest whi

porcelain.

And as you can see, quite a lot of gold, silver.

It's got a total o

and white diamonds on it,

weighing a

23 carats.

And most importantly, is a 45-year-old blended Royal Salute.

There were 21 bottles made.

And it sells for just over US$200,000 a bottle.

That's probably it.

It comes out here.

- There we go.

- Always nice to watch the cask.

Of course, this is natural strength of about 55 per cent alcohol.

And natural color.

There we go.

Don't want to spill any more of it.

There we go, one down.

- One for you, of course.

- Thank you very much.

With the greatest of pleasure.

I'll just make mine a bit bigger.

Absolutely.

- Your health.

- And yours too, Colin.

Slainte mhor.

'In 1744,

the town of Inveraray was little more than a huddle of humble cottages,

sitting in the grounds of the castle.

Having the town on his doorstep was far from ideal

in the new age of prestigious visitors to the aristocratic seat.

And so the 5th Duke had plans drawn up for a new town,

situated half a mile away, next to the loch side.

Th

for almost 30 years.

In 1770, Scotland's first new town began to take shape.

Nearly two-and-a-half centuries later,

the bond between the castle and the town is as strong as ever.'

I think it's very important.

It gives Inveraray a well-known name.

The Clan Campbell is the largest clan.

And it has worldwide recognition.

So it's very good for the town.

The castle is a great, great attraction.

It's beautifully maintained.

We have lots and lots of visitors specially coming

to see the attractions of the castle.

They're a fine young couple, it's g

town.

I mean, I've known Torquhil since he was a baby.

And Eleanor I've got to know since their marriage.

Och, he's a fine young lad.

Aye, good people.

Yeah, indeed.

I mean, we need something like that about the place.

This is what it is, it's Campbell country.

He tentatively tried to nip in a fly one.

He discreetly got one then chased home before father was on the phone.

young family.

They might have come in for a fish supper,

but they sent someone to get it for them.

I've not met them personally.

My children have met them personally.

Lovely people.

(DUCHESS) We have a Christmas pa

the whole primary school.

We have 80 kids, and my children and I make 80 jellies,

80 cupcakes, 80 rounds of sandwiches,

80 little crispy things with chocolate on.

It's a great way of everyone getting together, getting to know each other,

hopefully getting rid of that perception that the people on the hill

are all shut away doing their own thing.

We're all part of it, it's a tourist town.

We'd rather tourists came to Scotland than they went to Lanzarote.

It's all to do with the whole town, everyone works together.

We employ lots of people.

Hopefully, it's a question of us all pulling together to make a lovely day out

for a tourist who's come to Inveraray.

(DUKE) We are a team.

And, you know, the two of us run the castle.

My wife, she runs the shop,

she runs the tearoom, she runs the sort of P.R.

side of it, the website.

She comes from a m

background.

So I think, you

got our strengths,

which makes it a very strong team.

new to the job.

She's been doing it now for ten years.

But, you know, she's great at it.

And I couldn't do it without her.

And I couldn't do it without the support she gives me for what I do.

We've got one coach that has just turned up.

We've got another seven or eight to turn up today, 360 Americans off a cruise ship.

Sun shining, it's beautiful bl

sky, this is Argyll at its finest.

It's just magical.

Nice tartan.

Well, I've come a long way to find family history.

Oh, right.

So you're a Campbell, are you?

Yes, my mother was.

Thank you very much.

- I'm the Clan Chief.

- Oh, well, nice to meet you.

Oh, my goodness, the Duke.

If we're busy, h

down, or if, you know,

I need a help, Her Grace comes down as well.

She also helps in other parts

we need them.

Well, I think it's... it's a family home, isn't it?

As I keep saying, we're not a museum, we have got historical things,

you can trace Campbell history back to 1200 and something here,

but at the end of the day, it's a family home, we run the shop.

I think it makes for a better day out for everyone.

Whether it's off-putting or not to have us here, we are here and it's our shop.

We want people to have the best time in it.

There's not many castles you can come along

where you find a duke signing books in the shop

wearing his kilt and a duke apron.

So those are our souvenir books.

They're all signed by His Grace.

Written by my wife and graffiti'd by me.

(Chuckling)

Ladies are really delighted to see him when they come down,

they love to have their photograph taken.

He signs everything or whatever they want signed.

I mean, all the souvenir books that we send out,

all go out with my own personal signature on it.

why don't I print it on?

But that's just not truly authentic.

And if you want to see one being signed, ju

it's truly authentic...

Would you like to sign this?

Lovely, thank you.

We've a range of w

Campbell blended scotch,

which

the family name on it.

And again, all the little bottles go out wit

signature on it.

'Every year, the cas

thousands of cruise ship visitors,

who come by coach from the west coast town of Oban.

for Torquhil

and a coach load of Americ

a surprise for the Duke.'

# Happy birthday to you

# Happy birthday, Your Grace

# Happy birthday to you

(Cheering)

I'm a real party-pooper, I hate surprises.

(Laughter)

Thank you very much, that's very kind of you.

Very sweet.

And it's been a great pleasure to have you all here today.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit.

And I hope you'll take back happy memories of how wonderful Argyll is,

- how the sun always shines here... - (Laughter)

..and what a magical place we've got.

It's been a great pleasure to have you.

So what did you get for your birthday?

I got a very nice picture.

Wonderful!

Come on, then.

- Thank you so much!

- My pleasure, my pleasure.

Bye-bye.

Visitors are very important.

And, you know, when we talk about the responsibility,

being open to the public is, to me, a very important part of it.

Because a lot of people come here to trace their heritage,

to trace their roots, to appreciate

what I think we do very well in Scotland - ancestry,

castles, whisky...

That is important to me.

'The Duke has arrived for

daily meeting with castle manager, Jane Young.

On today's agenda are a whisky tasting

and a music recital for 12 VIP guests from France.

Right, so we have these VIPs coming off t

this evening.

Quarter to six, I think they're arriving.

I think that's about right.

We just need to make sure that everything's cleaned up when the castle closes.

So we'll s

drinks reception,

then they'll move into the saloon.

So we've got the opera singer and the pianist coming over from Paris,

and then, after that, they are going to go through

to the state dining room, and I'll take them through.

Okay.

In there, we have got the whisky tasting,

so the table needs to be cleared,

put back in the middle of the room, tablecloth.

And I wi

tour of the castle.

'There can't be many of Scotland's great estates

where the report of a fallen tree sees the estate owner himself

taking to the hills, armed with a chainsaw.

A tree is blocking the

road to the hilltop folly

that is Dun na Cuaiche.

No sooner does he hear about the problem, than the

sets off.

So far as he's concerned, it's just another job he has to take care of.'

Well, if the road's blocked, all in a day's work.

You've got to sort the problem out yourself.

You know, there's a lot of trees around here, a lot of wind.

When you come across something, it's much easier to sort it out yourself

than to go and find somebody else to do it.

So, we'll just get rid of this tree and then we can carry on on our way.

That'll do the trick.

All part of the job.

He loves

chain-sawing, he loves meeting people.

I think this is his paradise, this place.

(DUKE) We're on top of Dun na Cuaiche

which is the hill that overlooks the castle with the folly.

It's just beautiful.

Today is one of those days when definitely pictures speak louder than words.

We've got about 60,000 acres here.

More of it is so

that direction, that direction and that direction.

When you'r

got a place like this, you need to enjoy it as well.

We all work hard and as you've seen, what we do here,

it's not just a coincidence.

We have to work

very hard at it

to keep everyone happy and make them excited,

make them want to come and visit Argyll.

We're very, very lucky.

The staff here are fantastic and I think, you know,

they appreciate what we do

and we really appreciate what they do and the way that they help us.

And, you know, people love this part of the world.

The peace and quiet, the tranquility is wonderful.

And, of course, tourism is a very important part of what we do.

So that's the tourist season, during the summer months.

And then, come the end of October, things quieten down again

and everyone gets on with doing other things.

I think for a lot of people, you might grow up here,

you might go off and live in Edinburgh or Glasgow

or London or whatever,

but I think, generally speaking, people tend to come back.

If this is in your blood, it's very difficult to get it out.

'Local girl Louise Bell, grew

in the town of Inveraray

and has spent the last few summers working at the castle.'

I still love it.

Every time I come home from uni,

coming over the bridge, I still love seeing it.

I remember coming around when I was a wee girl,

and getting scared by some of the rooms and thinking there were ghosts in it.

And I've worked in the tearoom for a few years, since while I was at school,

weekend work in there.

It's like a family.

I've known everyone here for years now

and everyone's just so close and you can just tell them everything.

At a lot of places you work, you feel kind of distant from other people,

but you feel really close to everyone.

It's very nice working here at the castle.

Although it's a historic building, it's a relaxed family atmosphere.

And it's got the feel of a family home.

It's nice to see the three young

children enjoying the castle

and just romping in the grounds and so on.

'Louise and Stafford are used to their workplace being busy

but today is going to be especially demanding.

The family is opening up their home to more than 20,000 visitors

from all over Britain,

here to attend the Duchess's new passion,

The Best of the West Festival.'

(DUCHESS) So far, the sun has been shining

and people have been coming through the door.

I'm always nervous of being too optimistic

but I think hopefully, it's looking pretty good today.

We've got actually a much bigger area this year, so the music tent's twice as big.

Food and drink, it's all being laid out so there's a lot more space.

Which is great and people seem to be filling it.

'In terms of its status among the nation's aristocratic families,

the social standing of the Campbells rose sharply in the 1870s

when Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise,

married the Marquess of Lorne, son of the 8th Duke of Argyll.

When Victoria visited the castle in 1874,

a special entrance can

was designed for her

by Sir Matthew Digby-Wyatt at the entrance of the castle.

It has since become known as Paddington Station

because of the similarities to its London namesake.

The 9th Duke's wife, Princess Louise, has a room in the castle created in her honor.

Within the room here, we've got lots of pictures of her

and lots of things that she sculpted, she was a great artist.

Here's a sculpture of Queen Victoria that she did

but probably her most famous sculpture of Queen Victoria

is outside Kensington Palace in London.

She came here on a couple of occasions.

One of the reasons that we have Paddington Station

out the front of the castle

was so that Queen Victoria could get out of her carriage

and not get wet as she came into the castle.

Because sometimes it rains in Argyll, but not very often.

When she married the Marquess of Lorne,

he became the 4th Governor General of Canada

and of course, she went off to Canada with him.

You know, there are sketchbooks in the archives

that are pictures that she probably did on her travels around Canada.

And they're absolutely stunning.

She was a very, very talented artist.

'Her many paintings, along with maps and docum

going back centuries,

are housed in the old estate stabl

to the Argyll archive.'

of her sketchbooks.

These are sketches and watercolors done by Princess Louise.

We have a lot from Canada.

But I've actually dug out some that are local ones, local views.

We have pictures here from Crianlarich,

up in the Scottish Alps, as we like to call them.

And also some amazing pictures of Loch Awe

which is where the family actually came from.

And of course, Cruachan, Ben Crua

and Cruachan is the battle cry of the Campbells.

So a very symbolic hill for Campbell people.

But they really are stunning.

She was a very, very talented artist and obviously quite a prolific one.

This is one

best collections of family archives

in private hands in existence.

You know, some of the oldest docume

the 11th century.

They go all the way up to the modern day.

You've got sort of, ledgers, you've got accounts,

and you've got title deeds here.

You've got plans, you've got pictures, drawings, diaries.

I mean, all forms of archives.

We were talking to, you know, Andrew this morning,

and he is today my factor.

So that's really the land manager.

But in my father's generation and before, they were known as the chamberlains.

So in here, you've got a load of chamberlains' files and letter files

and things that they would have written.

You can see that the plans...

'Ishbel MacKinnon is the archivist

tasked with cataloguing the Argyll archive.'

This is a map of Tiree.

The dukes of Argyl

landscape improvers.

And they employed landscape surveyors

to go out and map their land

and look at ways that it was being organized.

And so they created maps like this,

which basically are the earliest depictions of the Scottish landscape.

Our family house is the old factor's house,

which is actually down this little loch down here.

But it's an amazing place, it's like the Caribbean.

It's the Caribbean of Scotland.

The water is that amazing Caribbean blue.

The beache

and miles -

all these are huge, white sandy beaches.

You know, you can walk along a beach that's two or three miles long

and you don't see another soul.

I mean, it's incredible.

That's actually where the present-day airfield is.

The island played a very, very important role during The Royal Air force went out there and they built a series of triangulated runways

and planes used to fly out protecting the convoys going across the Atlantic

and also hunting U-boats.

Probably the most important role that it played is,

they sent weather planes out

to try and find a weather window of opportunity for th

Normandy and D-day landings.

'This wonderful historical archive could so easily have been lost to the nation

one terrible night, on 5th November, 1975,

when fire ravaged the castle.'

I

it was mid-afternoon.

And the local town bonfire was in a field

just at the bottom of the garden.

And I do remember being taken off there once the fire

started in the castle.

And there

watching the bonfire.

But nobody else was watching the bonfire,

they were all watching the castle burn down.

And that to me is something that I will never ever forget.

Someone sa

the castle and the local retained fire brigade went up

and I took out a drive over to the bridge

and saw the flames just starting to burst through

the turret nearest the town.

And I thought, "Oh, this is serious, then."

1975, living in a rural community,

the fire brigade wasn't quite as sophisticated as it is today.

They didn't have their pagers and bleepers,

it was word of mouth and telephone calls.

So, actually, the people from the village

got up here much quicker than any of the fire engines did.

And they helped remove the valuable pieces from it as quickly as possible.

It was like a mob going through a French chateau during the French Revolution.

They were, you know, removing everything, we were taking things down off the wall,

a wonderful armorial display out,

display cabinets,

elbows were put through, the artifacts lifted,

and the water was running down the walls.

We were getting kicks of the Raeburns,

those lovely portraits in the saloon.

They were getting blankets and tarpaulins and just scooping the books in,

row after row into these and then just rushing out,

flinging them into cars, vans...the estate tractor was there with trailer.

And in fact, my wife opened the boot of the car

the following evening to find

about 50 valuable first edition volumes there.

It was just quite incredible to watch.

And they reckon that they didn't lose one single piece,

which says a lot for the honesty of the population.

It was a credit to the town.

If it wasn't for their help,

you know

what we have on show today.

So, as a family, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the locals

and the way they helped

history of the family.

About two years later, we had quite a serious fire.

Lo and behold, helping and such like.

Up turne

Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, well, the Duke and Duchess

and they rolled up their sleeves and gave us a hand

and both said, "No, you were very good and your family at the time of the fire."

That was very appreciated.

It says a lot for the family.

You know, they're straightforward, decent folk.

It wasn't until the next morning

that a member of my staff said to me,

"Were you up at the castle last night?"

I said, "Why, what?"

She said, "They had a terrible fire."

But as we went over the bridge out towards Glasgow

to catch a plane,

I noticed a very smoke-begrimed flag,

still flying from the flagpole, you kn

almost defiantly.

The funds weren't there within the estate or wi

the insurance

to restore it to the condition that it had been beforehand.

My parents worked incredibly hard,

going ou

Campbell members to raise funds.

It took the best part of five years to get the roof back on

and restore it to a condition that was acceptable

to then reopen to the public.

(NIALL) He did very well, actually.

He made a great job of rescuing the castle from, as he said to me one day,

"I could have taken the insurance money and walked away

and built myself a very handsome little house

here in my own grounds somewhere

and lived very comfortably ever after.

But it's not the way I was brought up, it's as simple as that."

'The fire may have

large parts of the historic castle

but it takes a bit more than an inferno

and a few thousand gallons of water

to shift the Inveraray ghosts.

And the castle has mor

than its fair share.

There's the Loch Fyne ghost ship,

said to resemble the ship that features on the Campbell coat of arms.

an omen

that the Chief of the Clan Campbell is soon to die.

And let's not forget the phantom harpist.'

(DUKE) We have five ghosts in the castle.

But we're in the MacArthur Room

and this is probably the room that has the greatest sort of aura around it.

People walk into this room and they leave it straightaway.

And the reason that they do, is because of this bed.

The 9th Earl

the castle at the time.

An

in the process

of attacking and ransacking the village of Inveraray.

The 9th Earl fled by boat onto the loch,

musicians, a young harpist.

Now with Montrose were a bunch of Irish mercenaries

and the harpist was Irish.

And these mercen

so incensed that an Irish boy

could work for the House of Campbell

that they hung, drew and quartered him in this particular bed.

So, very

of a harpist is heard.

To do a job like this, you've really got to love what you do.

know, work for somebody else in an office.

You've got to be absolutely passionate about looking after a castle like this,

looking after the business

and really preserving it for future generations.

(DUCHESS) It is hard work but it's interesting.

You wake up in the morning...

there's never a boring day in this place.

So you might have...

I don't know, 100 pe

arriving for a big lunch,

or you might have a cruise ship coming in,

or you might have a film crew coming in

or you might have a classic car rally.

Literally every single day is different.

Or a crisis where everyone's phoned in sick from the tearoom

and you know you've got 500 people coming in

and who's going to make the cakes and serve the teas?

You know, it's never dull around here.

I've worked in other companies before and had bosses.

It's all right to work hard for other bosses

but when you are the boss and you're handing it over to your own children

and their children then, somehow, I think,

you probably have that extra energy that you might not have

if it was someone else's company, maybe.

'Mixed in with the family pictures on the piano

is a photograph of the Hollywood legend, Audrey Hepburn.

The portrait hints at another chapter of the castle's colorful history.'

She shouldn't really be on the top of it but

Marg of Arg, Margaret Argyll,

was my husband's grandfather's third wife

and she was a real

of the day.

She knew all the best people, she had the best parties, she was quite infamous.

She had plenty of scandals around her but...

she had lots of famous people who she would surround herself with.

And, Lerner and Loewe came to stay here in Inveraray Castle.

And they wrote some of the music for My Fair Lady

at this piano, with friends milling around.

We have a concert for some important guests coming.

We're going to have an opera singer from Paris

and they're going to be serenaded with songs from My Fair Lady.

It's really exciting.

It's a show that I did in Paris a couple of years ago

and we'll be doing it again in December.

So, it's a show that I love and really exciting for me to perform excerpts

of it here on the actual piano.

Yes, it se

to earth, I wasn't sure

if he was kidding that he is the Duke, or he is really the Duke.

'As the last of the visitors depart the castle,

preparations beg

bespoke event,

this one featuring VIP guests from France

and the very special entertainment being laid on for them.

There are 45 minutes to get ready for the evening visitors.

As opera singer Elisa Doughty begins rehearsals,

the Duke, the Duchess and th

get the rooms ready

for the recital of My Fair Lady

and the specially arranged exclusive whisky tasting.'

(Piano plays)

# All I want is a room somewhere

# Far away

the cold night air

# With one enormous chair

# Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

# Lots of chocolate for me to eat

# Lots of coal #

warm feet

# Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

# Oh, so loverly

# Sitting absolutely blooming still

# I would never budge till spring

# Crept over me window sill

# Someone's

resting on my knee

# Warm and tender as he can be

# Who takes good care of me

# Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

# Loverly

# Loverly

# Loverly

# Loverly

Very nice to see you.

'Chivas Brothers Master Blender, Colin Scott,

has arrived at the castle to take charge of the whisky tasting.'

..stockings and nets...

- 20.

- 20.

So, one... we have two on the end, one on the end...

(DUKE) It's my home.

I don't see it as my place in Scotland, this is my home,

this is where I was born and bred.

This is where my roots are

and that's what I'd like to instill into my children as well.

(DUCHESS) I think children are so adaptable.

They come here and I say, "Please don't talk to strangers,

but actually, if they're tourists, please do talk to strangers,

please, look people in the eye."

I think they realize half their life is different.

And I think they realize that this house is bigger than their friends' houses.

My nine-year old in the car was saying,

"How am I going to remember to do everything,

how am I going to remember what I'm meant to do and this and that?"

I said, "Well, you'll learn

and hopefully get a good wife or someone to help you."

Or maybe he should go and work in a very big bank

and get someone else to do it, whatever his skill is at the time.

I think children are amazing, they just get on with it.

And our eldest son knows one day that he will be the Duke

but I don't think he's thought it through, probably much further than that.

He's only nine.

To me, it is more than worth keeping.

It's something that, you know, it's amazing history.

I mean, you are sitting in Inveraray Castle

which is the seat of the Chiefs of the Clan Campbell,

which have been, over the years,

one of the most powerful families in Scotland.

And I think, when you look at the amount of people

that we welcome through our doors each summer,

and, you know, you read their comments or their letters

and their experiences from coming here...

You know, it i

place.

That'll do.

Great Estate

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