Old Photograph John Brown Statue Balmoral Castle Scotland

Old photograph of the John Brown statue on the grounds of Balmoral Castle, Scotland. John Brown, born 8 December 1826, died 27 March 1883, was a Scottish personal servant and favourite of Queen Victoria for many years. He was appreciated by many (including the Queen) for his competence and companionship, and resented by others for his influence and informal manner. The exact nature of his relationship with Victoria was the subject of great speculation by contemporaries, and continues to be controversial today. Brown was born in Crathie, Aberdeenshire, to John Brown and Margaret Leys, and went to work as an outdoor servant, in Scots ghillie or gillie, at Balmoral Castle, which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert leased in February 1848 and purchased outright in November 1851. He had several younger brothers, three of whom also entered the royal service. The most notable of these, Archibald Anderson " Archie Brown ", fifteen years John's junior, eventually became personal valet to Victoria's youngest son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Prince Albert's untimely death in 1861 was a shock from which Queen Victoria never fully recovered. John Brown became a good friend and supported the mourning Queen. The Queen gave him gifts and created two medals for him, the Faithful Servant Medal and the Devoted Service Medal. She commissioned a portrait of him. Queen Victoria commissioned a life-sized statue of Brown by Edgar Boehm shortly after Brown's death. The inscription on the base read: Friend more than Servant. Loyal. Truthful. Brave. Self less than Duty, even to the Grave. When Victoria's son succeeded to the throne he had the statue moved to a less conspicuous site on the estate.



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