Falkland Palace

Stand in the high street of Falkland for a moment and listen. Cobbles under your feet, the low murmur of a village, maybe the rustle of wind coming down off the green slope of the hill behind the rooftops. Then look up. Two round stone towers rise above the street, with a gateway between them. They look almost too grand for a village of this size... and that is exactly the point. For a time, this small place in the heart of Fife was one of the favourite homes of the Kings of Scotland.

This is Falkland Palace. It sits a short drive from Glenrothes, in the old Kingdom of Fife, at the foot of the Lomond Hills. Today the National Trust for Scotland cares for it. But for much of the sixteenth century, it was a royal country retreat. The Stewart monarchs came here to hunt in the surrounding forest, to escape the politics of Edinburgh, and to show off. Every stone you see was meant to say something about power, taste, and Europe.

The palace did not begin as a palace. Before the Stewart kings rebuilt it, a castle stood on this ground, held by the Earls of Fife. That earlier castle carries one of the darkest stories in Scottish royal history. In 1402, David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay and heir to the throne, died while held prisoner here. Accounts from the period suggest he was starved. Many historians point to his uncle, the powerful Duke of Albany, who stood to gain from his death. Nothing of that grim keep is easy to see today — but the memory stayed with this site.

The building in front of you belongs to a brighter age. In the early sixteenth century, King James the Fourth began a major rebuilding. His son, James the Fifth, finished and transformed it. James the Fifth had spent time in France and married two French brides in turn. He brought French ideas home, and French craftsmen too. The result was something new for Scotland.

Walk through the gatehouse into the courtyard and turn to face the south range. Here is the first surprise for many visitors. This courtyard wall is one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture anywhere in Britain. Renaissance here means the style that came out of Italy and France, based on the order and symmetry of ancient Rome. Look for the columns set against the wall, and the carved stone medallions with heads inside them. In the 1530s, this was the height of continental fashion... built in a Fife village.

Now compare it with the street front you passed on the way in. Outside, the towers and walls look sturdy and Scottish, almost like a fortress. Inside, the courtyard looks to France. The palace shows two faces — one for the road, and one for the guests who were invited in. It is a small lesson in how a king presented himself to different audiences.

Inside the south range is the Chapel Royal. Its painted ceiling and wooden screen give a sense of how richly a royal room could be decorated. Elsewhere you can see the King's Bedchamber and other rooms furnished in period style. Much of the interior you see today is the result of careful restoration, not untouched survival. That is worth knowing as you walk through — it helps you read the rooms honestly.

That restoration has its own story. By the nineteenth century, parts of the palace were roofless and decaying. The east range had been badly damaged by fire in the 1650s, during the years when Oliver Cromwell's forces occupied Scotland. Then, in the late nineteenth century, the Third Marquess of Bute became Hereditary Keeper of the palace. He was a wealthy man with a deep passion for history. He paid for extensive repairs, and his family has kept a connection with the palace ever since.

The palace also has a famous death scene. In 1542, after a heavy defeat by the English, James the Fifth came here ill and exhausted. He died in the palace that December. Only days before, news had reached him that his wife had given birth to a daughter. That baby was Mary, who became Mary Queen of Scots. According to a well-known tradition, the dying king said the crown came with a girl and would go with a girl — a reference to how the Stewarts had gained the throne. Whether he truly said it, no one can prove.

Mary herself later came back to Falkland. Like her father, she enjoyed hunting in the countryside around the palace. It is easy to picture riders leaving these gates for the slopes of the hills, with hounds and falcons. This was a place for pleasure and sport — and that brings us to the second surprise.

In the gardens stands the Royal Tennis Court, built for James the Fifth in 1539. This is not lawn tennis. It is real tennis, the much older indoor game that modern tennis grew from. The court has sloping roofs along the sides, odd openings in the walls, and rules that are famously complicated. It is among the oldest tennis courts in the world — and remarkably, people still play on it today.

The gardens around it are calm and open. After the Second World War, they were redesigned by the garden designer Percy Cane, with long borders and wide lawns. From here you get one of the best views back toward the palace. You see the ruined east range, the restored south range, and the green rise of the East Lomond behind them. It is a good place to stop and simply sit.

Before you go, step back into the high street. The village around the palace grew up to serve the royal household, and its old houses still line the lanes. Some visitors may recognise the streets from television, as the village has appeared on screen. Now look once more at those two round towers above the gate. Kings and a young queen passed under them. Today it is you. Take a slow walk out through the village, and listen to the quiet that drew the Stewarts here in the first place.