INVERLOCHY Castle Hotel, near Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, is a masterpiece of Baronial architecture. Sitting at the foot of Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain, it was built in 1863 as a private home for Lord Arbinger. It quickly became the go to venue for the high and mighty, famously hosting Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America in 1869, followed four years later by Queen Victoria, who wrote in her diary that she ‘never saw a lovelier or more romantic spot’.
In its modern incarnation as a luxury 5-star hotel, Inverlochy Castle has played host to the late Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as a long list of foreign dignitaries and royalty, and various celebrities including Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery, Elton John, Liam Neeson, Mel Gibson, J.K. Rowling and Anthony Hopkins.
The stunning scenery that surrounds the castle is an elegant introduction to the fabulous interior. Inverlochy has a reputation as an oasis of comfort, charm, gourmet food and fine wine. The principal dining room, called the Red Room, boasts a collection of stately, carved oak furniture, apparently gifted to the castle by King Haakon VII of Norway.
The carvings on the large dresser of birds, animal heads, bulging pomegranates and a hanging pheasant, are exquisite. Gargoyles and mythical animals adorn the main pillars of the spectacular sideboard. Even the tables and chairs are solid pieces of flawlessly designed oak furniture. But it is the association with King Haakon that is intriguing.
Renowned as the King who defied Hitler, Haakon VII and his son, Crown Prince Olav, had to flee from Nazi troops and paratroopers when they invaded Norway by sea and air in April 1940. As alarms sounded, Crown Prince Olav together with his wife Crown Princess Martha and their three young children, drove from the royal estate at Skaugum to the palace where Olav’s father lived in Oslo. Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold had already informed the king of fierce fighting in the Oslo Fjord and told him that Foreign Minister Halvdan Koht had rejected an ultimatum from the German ambassador to Norway, Curt Braüer, to cooperate with the occupation forces. Braüer even offered King Haakon a position in Hitler’s Third Reich in return for recognising the Norwegian Nazi Vidkun Quisling as Norway’s new prime minister. Haakon flatly refused and the prime minister told him that the royal family had to get out of Oslo fast.
Norwegian defence forces had managed to torpedo the large German cruiser Blücher, full of German troops, delaying the invasion for just enough time to allow the monarch, the heirs to the throne and the government to escape by train. What ensued was the stuff of nightmares. King Haakon’s refusal to surrender led to almost two months of chaotic cat and mouse tactics as the German invaders mounted a nationwide manhunt. 100 specially trained Nazi paratroopers had been tasked with capturing the royals and their government ministers.
On one harrowing occasion the king and his son had to run for cover in a snow-filled ditch as bombs exploded around them. The chase zig-zagged across Norway and even crossed the border into Sweden, where they were threatened with internment, forcing them to flee back to Norway. Eventually, on April 23, the party made it to Åndalsnes and Molde, where they joined allied British forces who were retreating from the German onslaught. Haakon VII and his family were taken on board the naval vessel HMS Glasgow, which set sail for the UK, where he would remain in exile for the rest of the war, dividing his time between London and Scotland.
Initially, King Haakon and his family were guests of King George VI at Buckingham Palace, but at the start of the London Blitz in September 1940, they moved to Bowdown House in Berkshire. The building of an RAF airbase at nearby Greenham Common in March 1942 prompted another move to Foliejon Park,near Windsor, in Berkshire, where they remained until Norway was liberated at the end of the war. Haakon’s official office was in the Norwegian Legation in Kensington, where he convened weekly Cabinet meetings and recorded regular speeches which were broadcast on radio and became a symbol of the Norwegian resistance.
Following the German invasion, hundreds of Norwegian and Danish refugees sailed across the North Sea in small fishing boats to seek safety in Scotland. Many settled in Buckie, a small town on the Moray Firth coast, which became known as ‘Little Norway’ during the war years. King Haakon VII visited the town in the summer of 1943. In the Scottish Highlands, the Norwegian monarch found refuge in Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland. Built in 1907 for the Duchess of Sutherland, the castle was bought in 1933 by Colonel Theodore Salvesen, a wealthy Scottish businessman of Norwegian extraction, who offered it as a safe haven to King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav.
It was in Carbisdale that the Norwegian monarch held essential meetings, including an agreement following the Carbisdale Conference on 22 June 1941, where the Russians consented that their military, if they had to enter Norway during the conflict, would not remain in Norwegian territory after the war. Three years later, on 25 October 1944, the Red Army marched into Norway and captured thirty towns, but later withdrew according to the terms of the agreement. After the end of the war, Crown Prince Olav and five government ministers returned to Norway on 13 May 1945. Haakon and the rest of the Norwegian royal family returned 3 weeks later aboard HMS Norfolk, being welcomed by cheering crowds in Oslo on 7 June 1945.
After Colonel Salvesen died, Carbisdale Castle was inherited by his son, Captain Harold Salvesen, and in June 1945 he donated its contents and estate to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA). The SYHA sold Carbisdale and its rich array of 36 Italian and Scottish nineteenth-century paintings and textiles and 17 sculptures in 2015. Were the beautiful oak furnishings that now have pride of place in Inverlochy Castle Hotel, part of the Carbisdale collection? Or were they gifted separately by King Haakon VII, before, during or after the war to Grete Hobbs, the then Danish owner of Inverlochy? The mystery remains to be solved.
If you appreciated this article please share and follow us on Twitter here – and like and comment on facebook here. Help support ThinkScotland publishing these articles by making a donation here.
Photo of statue of King Haakon in Oslo by Sergii Figurnyi from Adobe Stock
