Dunrobin Castle has been home to the Earls and later, Dukes of Sutherland since the early 1300s. It is the most northerly of Scotland’s great houses and the largest in the Northern Highlands with 189 rooms. As holders of one of just seven medieval earldoms in Scotland, the Sutherlands were part of the ruling elite, intermarrying with the Royal Family. The 5th Earl married Princess Margaret, daughter of Robert the Bruce and the 6th Earl married Margaret, daughter of Alexander; the illegitimate son of King Robert II. In 1514 the Earldom of Sutherland passed by marriage to the Gordon family. In 1567 the 11th Earl and his Countess were murdered by an aunt hoping (unsuccessfully) to change the course of the succession. The 12th Earl married the divorced ex-wife of James Hepburn, who became the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. At the start of the 1800s the Sutherland estates amounted to some 1.5 million acres and formed the biggest private estate in Europe. What followed was one of the most controversial episodes in the story of the Sutherlands when, between 1811 and 1821, a huge number of people were cleared from the Sutherland estates. These events still have resonance today. Improvements to the castle were undertaken for the 2nd Duke, who commissioned Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament, to make additions to the castle in 1845 and to provide a Royal Suite for the visit of Queen Victoria. During World War I, Dunrobin was used as an auxiliary naval hospital. Fire broke out in the castle and destroyed part of it. After the war Sir Robert Lorimer was commissioned to carry out the repairs and alterations we see today. #Scotland #castle #bucketlist #hiddengems #travel - @castlesofscotland