0:00:03 > 0:00:04Our great country houses.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07The most familiar and yet intriguing sights
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Britain has to offer.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Standing like sentinels in the landscape.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Hundreds of thousands of us visit them every year,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20but not all are open to the public.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23I've been granted the privileged opportunity
0:00:23 > 0:00:28to pass through the portals of six of our greatest country houses
0:00:28 > 0:00:30normally hidden from public view.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36They've seen five centuries of British history,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38up close and personal.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42The families who built these houses
0:00:42 > 0:00:46played their part in great affairs of state.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53Central to their dreams - the great house, the ultimate status symbol.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57But all too often, also the ultimate money drainer.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Few of these families went the distance, but their houses did,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03with their secrets intact.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09This is their story, but it's also our story,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14for these houses offer a guided tour of our nation's hidden history.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35Scotland - a land where castles were the seats of power
0:01:35 > 0:01:38for longer than anywhere else in Britain.
0:01:38 > 0:01:44Since the Middle Ages,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47these were the homes of choice
0:01:47 > 0:01:49for the ruling elite.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59And of course, what a ruler needs if he's to be successful
0:01:59 > 0:02:00is a firm grip on power.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04And so, the castle became the power base,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08a symbol of strength, designed to withstand everything,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11even the tests of time.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24But in Scotland, in the late 17th century,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27something extraordinary happened.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31A completely different type of grand house appeared on the scene,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33and it started to make castles like this
0:02:33 > 0:02:37look as old-fashioned as a medieval suit of armour.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46'I'm on my way to see the house that changed everything.'
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Here it is, Kinross House. It's fantastic!
0:02:50 > 0:02:57There's no winding drive here. The house explodes right in front of me.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It's incredible. A perfect classical villa,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02mathematically precise.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04It's like driving into Italy here.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08It's astonishing - 300 years old,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11but still almost shockingly new.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20This was the first fully-classical house in Scotland.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24Its architect was William Bruce,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28who was every bit as revolutionary in his impact on his country
0:03:28 > 0:03:31as his house was on its architecture.
0:03:33 > 0:03:34Bruce played a key role
0:03:34 > 0:03:38in the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40But he flew too close to the sun,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44his fall every bit as spectacular as his rise.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Kinross is a stunning monument to his towering success,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52but also to his ultimate failure.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02For me, this is one of the most beautiful classical buildings in Britain.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06It's the epitome of civilised architecture.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10A grave and solemn presence
0:04:10 > 0:04:16in a wonderful romantic landscape.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Just as the country house displaced the castle in England
0:04:20 > 0:04:22a century and a half earlier,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25so Kinross made turrets and battlements outdated
0:04:25 > 0:04:29as Scotland embraced peace at last.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33With Charles Stuart on the throne
0:04:33 > 0:04:35after years of civil war,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37and then Oliver Cromwell's strict rule,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Scotland regained its own parliament
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and sense of destiny and independence.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Kinross was built, and the future finally looked bright,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49not just for its owner,
0:04:49 > 0:04:50but for his country too.
0:04:52 > 0:04:59Hidden here, are insights into the restoration of Charles II in 1660
0:04:59 > 0:05:01and insights into Scotland's history,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05into those visions of glory and independence,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10and into those ghastly moments of bitter despair.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15It's thrilling to enter such an important house
0:05:15 > 0:05:18that's been secret for so long.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21To be granted privileged access.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23My goodness!
0:05:23 > 0:05:25The entrance hall is wonderful.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Intact, authentic.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30I can feel, standing here,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33I'm about to meet William Bruce himself,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35lurking somewhere in the shadows.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47The house has little changed since Bruce started to build in 1685.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49But in less than 100 years,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53Bruce's classical architecture became Scotland's national style.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59The country was shedding its medieval skin.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Edinburgh, just 25 miles away,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05would soon become a crucible of the Enlightenment,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07a Europe-wide philosophical movement
0:06:07 > 0:06:10that ushered in the rational modern world.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21At Kinross, Bruce heralded this transformation,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24pointing towards Scotland's golden age.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34What makes Bruce's building of Kinross even more impressive
0:06:34 > 0:06:38is that he wasn't an aristocrat with inherited wealth,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40he was a self-made man.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43And he never even trained as an architect,
0:06:43 > 0:06:44he was a merchant.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Yet he managed to create for himself a miniature royal palace.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The house is Bruce's way of using architecture to proclaim,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00"I've arrived."
0:07:00 > 0:07:02He'd been born to minor gentry of modest means,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04and had to make his own fortune
0:07:04 > 0:07:07before he could even think of building Kinross.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Bruce wanted visitors to be impressed,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15so he created for himself a processional route
0:07:15 > 0:07:18of a type usually reserved for royal palaces.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23And this was a route with a message -
0:07:23 > 0:07:25the deeper a guest was permitted to penetrate
0:07:25 > 0:07:28towards the more intimate rooms,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30then the higher their status.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32The large saloon on the first floor
0:07:32 > 0:07:35would be a general gathering place for all guests.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38You can imagine it, people milling around,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40gathered by the fireplaces, enjoying themselves.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44And then, the filtering starts by the door over here.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Some people now would be excluded.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Only the cream of local society
0:07:51 > 0:07:55would be allowed to enter into the next set of rooms.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59The chosen few would have entered here.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03This was the state drawing room - now somewhat altered.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Here, the guests would mix on more friendly terms with the family,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12but the filtering doesn't stop here.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Through this door is another room.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20And even fewer people would have been allowed in here,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23the anteroom or waiting room.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27They're waiting to be received here,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31by William Bruce, in his bed chamber.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35This was a sign of great intimacy,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38reserved for only the very, very few.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40But it didn't end here.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And through here is the holy of holies.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53A closet like this formed the end of the route.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58It's so small, it really had an enforced intimacy
0:08:58 > 0:09:02and it's so wonderfully richly decorated.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04It's a miniature architectural wonder.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Look at this terrific fireplace here, rich carving.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14Once you'd entered this room, then you knew you had arrived.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20This processional route through the sequence of formal rooms,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23a barometer that revealed a guest's social standing,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25was novel in Scotland.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28And there's other evidence in the house to suggest that Bruce
0:09:28 > 0:09:32designed Kinross to reflect the most avant-garde architectural ideas.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36It was to be a very modern home indeed.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43Because Bruce was at the peak of his career and Kinross was a new build,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47the house could contain all the latest features.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Menzies reflected increasing concern for comfort,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52convenience and privacy.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55What that meant essentially was organising the plan,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58so the family could be kept away from the servants,
0:09:58 > 0:09:59or perhaps more to the point,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02the servants could be kept away from the family.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Bruce designed the house to separate the masters from their staff.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23Dozens of servants could be tucked away in basements, closets
0:10:23 > 0:10:25and mezzanine floors.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29This new type of planning became popular in Britain
0:10:29 > 0:10:34in the 17th century because of a growing concern for privacy.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38The family didn't want to see the servants that waited on them,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41or see what they might have in their possession.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45A typical job for servants
0:10:45 > 0:10:48was to remove night soil from bedrooms in the morning.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53Now, the chamber pots could be full to brimming.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57I'm simulating that now. There are limits to authenticity!
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Then, these chamber pots...
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Eugh, I put my finger in it, how disgusting...
0:11:02 > 0:11:08Then the servant had to remove the full chamber pot from the house
0:11:08 > 0:11:11with great discretion.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16They could use this secret, virtually hidden service staircase.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Now, this is going to be something of a challenge.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Oh.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Oh, no, I've spilt some!
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Presumably that's a sackable offence.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Now, it would sting, wouldn't it? This is so small.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35I'm rather bigger, I suppose, than the 17th-century servant.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37These are now called pages' staircases.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40People assume only little boys would run up and down.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Might be the case, but I expect servant girls as well,
0:11:43 > 0:11:48carrying chamber pots brimming with human waste.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Oh, dear!
0:11:50 > 0:11:54Oh, dear, this is very... It's terrible!
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Not doing very well.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58I'm now, ooh, worse and worse,
0:11:58 > 0:12:02wading through human waste and dropping my towel in it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04How absolutely disgusting.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08This staircase is part of a parallel world created in the house
0:12:08 > 0:12:13to ensure that servants and nasty things
0:12:13 > 0:12:17are kept out of the sight of the family.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Everything about the house
0:12:27 > 0:12:31was just as finely calculated as its hidden servants' quarters.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Not least the splendid exterior.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38You'd never guess at Bruce's epic struggle
0:12:38 > 0:12:40up the steep slopes of power
0:12:40 > 0:12:45by looking at the cool, confident, classical form of his creation.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01One of the most impressive things about Kinross House
0:13:01 > 0:13:05is the precision and regularity of the stonework.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09It's absolutely beautiful, which really enhances
0:13:09 > 0:13:14the wonderful harmonic quality of the design of the building.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17It feels like it's a building that's going to last for ever,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21incredibly strong, a building created for eternity.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23And of course, that is just the point.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Bruce was building this to last.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28This is his family home. He's creating a dynasty on this land,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30it is indeed to last for eternity.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32It has a wonderful Roman quality to it.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Bruce's aim was to found a dynasty here.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Visitors at the time would quickly have appreciated
0:13:41 > 0:13:44that the house and its estate were fit for a lord.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49And that's exactly what Bruce hoped to become.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53But they would also have been struck by something the house lacked -
0:13:53 > 0:13:55fortifications.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59What did Scotland's aristocratic families make of this?
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Well, there in the distance is Glamis Castle, wonderful.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12It's an ancient building, greatly re-modelled in the 1670s and 1680s
0:14:12 > 0:14:15at exactly the time that William Bruce
0:14:15 > 0:14:18was designing and rebuilding Kinross House.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22It's this sort of architecture with its battlements, pinnacles
0:14:22 > 0:14:26and its tower that Bruce was reacting against.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Glamis Castle has a starring role in Macbeth.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37It was also the ancestral home of the late Queen Mother.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43In the 1680s, it was the seat of Patrick, Earl of Strathmore,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47one of the most powerful men in Scotland.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51While Bruce was creating the refined Kinross,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Lord Strathmore was busy extending his castle
0:14:54 > 0:14:59with more warlike additions, just as his ancestors had always done.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05The castle's fortifications are still carefully maintained
0:15:05 > 0:15:09by Patrick's successor, Michael, the 18th earl.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Really at Glamis, we've been here as a family since its inception.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19And I think Patrick wouldn't have wanted to
0:15:19 > 0:15:22raze the castle that was here to the ground
0:15:22 > 0:15:24and build, in those days, a modern house.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26He wanted to keep re-modelling.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28That was important, to have continuity
0:15:28 > 0:15:31and not to have a clean sweep and build a, you know,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Italian-style classical building,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36but just to really make the castle bigger,
0:15:36 > 0:15:38but it still looked like a castle.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Exactly that. I mean, he added the west wing,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43which balanced the east wing.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45And he did a lot in the gardens
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and also the front avenue, or drive, as we call it now.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Obviously glad with his creation, there's a sensational portrait of him there.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57He's dressed in sort of skin-tight, skin-coloured Roman armour,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01pointing at the newly completed extended castle.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03There it is on, on the right.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Well, there indeed he is, with his three sons.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09And he's quite rightly very, very proud of his creation.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15And as for the skin-tight Roman armour,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18I think one can only put it down to the fashion of the time.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Do you know what the 3rd Earl thought of Sir William Bruce
0:16:21 > 0:16:25and his sort of rather radical new classical style
0:16:25 > 0:16:27introduced at Kinross House?
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Would that have been provocative to the 3rd Earl?
0:16:31 > 0:16:36Well, I think in terms of different types of architecture,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38I mean it's rather like chalk and cheese.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Glamis is completely different from Kinross.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45And I'm guessing, but I suspect possibly the 3rd Earl
0:16:45 > 0:16:50regarded Bruce's architecture as somewhat nouveau riche.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57To an ancient family like the Strathmores,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59William Bruce's pile may well indeed have seemed
0:16:59 > 0:17:03just a little bit nouveau. A new build made with new money.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11But Bruce was clearly determined to strike out in a style
0:17:11 > 0:17:13that was new for Scotland.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Not for him old fashioned looming towers and bristling battlements,
0:17:20 > 0:17:22the ornaments of the past.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Instead, Bruce wanted cool, clean forms.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Where once was asymmetry, eccentricity and disorder,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35now there was harmony, balance and clean, crisp precision.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Bruce turned his back on the castellated world
0:17:40 > 0:17:42of the Scottish country house
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and was inspired by the architecture of Renaissance Italy,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and by the great modern buildings he'd seen abroad.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01And yet for all its newness, William Bruce's house was also organised
0:18:01 > 0:18:05around a clear-eyed appreciation of the virtues of the old.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10And this, I believe, is where the real magic of Kinross lies.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Sitting here on the roof, I can begin to understand
0:18:15 > 0:18:18the power and the meaning of Kinross House.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20It's organised around a straight route
0:18:20 > 0:18:25that starts right up there by the entrance gates.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28It comes down the drive and then into the house.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42The straight route continues through the centre of the house,
0:18:42 > 0:18:49down these steps, into the garden and has a long way to go.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02The route is marked by this grassy path
0:19:02 > 0:19:05at the heart of the garden designed by William Bruce.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09The route then passes through this splendid gate in front of me,
0:19:09 > 0:19:14ornamented with carvings of fishes - wonderful!
0:19:14 > 0:19:19I go through the arch here and the route continues onwards and onwards.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23I'm looking at the route now back to the house
0:19:23 > 0:19:25and the route continues across the loch
0:19:25 > 0:19:30and terminates at the castle way over there in front of me.
0:19:32 > 0:19:33It's amazing.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37The house and the garden are all aligned on that castle.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39It is the focus of everything.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01I'm now going across to see the castle.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04It's where Mary Queen of Scots, that most tragic of figures,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07was imprisoned in 1567.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10She was there for 11 months.
0:20:17 > 0:20:23Thousands of tourists make the pilgrimage to Loch Leven Castle every year.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27It was here that the reckless and ill advised Mary was forced
0:20:27 > 0:20:32to abdicate the throne in favour of her baby son James.
0:20:34 > 0:20:41He was later to become James VI of Scotland and James I of England.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Why was Loch Leven Castle so important for Bruce?
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Why did he make it the focus of his architectural vision?
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Was it because he wanted to use his ancient architecture to
0:20:54 > 0:20:58imply that his family was of ancient and noble pedigree?
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Did he want to associate himself with Mary Queen of Scots who was,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05after all, an ancestor of the ruling monarch?
0:21:06 > 0:21:12I believe the answer, what is clear, he was appropriating somebody else's history.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16The history of the castle still belonged to a far older
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and more important family.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22The previous owners of Loch Leven and Kinross, the Earls of Morton.
0:21:22 > 0:21:28The Mortons had lived on the estate since the 14th century and it was
0:21:28 > 0:21:33a Morton who held Mary Queen of Scots captive at the castle, not a Bruce.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40Charles Wemyss has written a PHD focusing on Kinross and William Bruce.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44But he's also one of Bruce's few living descendants.
0:21:44 > 0:21:45How nice to meet you.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52You must be very proud that William Bruce is an ancestor.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Could you give me your assessment of him as an architect?
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I am very proud.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Well, I think as an architect he was, he was certainly,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05he's always described as the introducer of classical architecture in Scotland,
0:22:05 > 0:22:10and I don't think there's any question that is the case.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12And he... Kinross House is magnificent.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16It's the most beautiful thing, creation.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19But whether he was a very nice man is quite another matter.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Whether he was a gentleman architect is how he's been described.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Gentleman is not a word I'd use for Sir William Bruce.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32What would you use? I mean he, he's a self-made man obviously.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36- Tell me more about...- Avaricious, ambitious, opportunistic.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40To join the nobility of Scotland you have to own an estate,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43and William Bruce is one of...
0:22:43 > 0:22:47I know of four other individuals who do exactly the same thing.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50They're new money, they've made money either as merchants or
0:22:50 > 0:22:53men of affairs or working for the Treasury,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56the first thing they do with their money is to buy an estate.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57But they don't buy it.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01They buy the debts and then acquire the estate that way.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06What happens with Kinross is that Bruce comes along to
0:23:06 > 0:23:10the 9th Earl of Morton who is in real financial distress,
0:23:10 > 0:23:17and he says, "Oi, mate, I'll, um, I'll pay off your debts if you give me the estate."
0:23:17 > 0:23:19And that's basically how he gets it.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24So a good example of Sir William Bruce the opportunist, I think.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29But Bruce had to be an opportunist
0:23:29 > 0:23:34if he was going to achieve his goal of Kinross.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Born the second son of Lord Bruce of Blair Hall, William always
0:23:39 > 0:23:45knew the estate and title would go to his older brother, as was the custom.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49From a young age, Bruce was aware he would have to make his own way in the world.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Ah, here he is. William Bruce.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04Now, this portrait of Bruce shows him holding a drawing implement,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08here it is, suggesting architectural endeavour.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13The portrait is dated, over here, 1664, but as far as we know
0:24:13 > 0:24:17he didn't design his first building until 1667.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21So this in a way is a portrait of a young man with a dream
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and a determination to make that dream come true,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27the dream of being an architect.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37There were many twists and turns before Bruce finally achieved his ambition.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41In the mid-1650s he set sail from Scotland to start
0:24:41 > 0:24:46work as a merchant, trading wine, coal and timber on the Continent.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50He had little experience and even less money.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56But he had a powerful secret weapon. Charm.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00He knew how to make powerful contacts
0:25:00 > 0:25:04and one of the first was a family friend, Sir Robert Murray.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Murray was a member of the royal court in exile,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and close to Charles Stuart, the would-be king.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Some of Murray's letters still survive.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20They belong to another descendant of Bruce, Lord Elgin,
0:25:20 > 0:25:25who lives outside Edinburgh at Broomhall.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28So what we've got here are letters from the 1650s
0:25:28 > 0:25:31that mention William Bruce.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36They're not from him or to him, they... He's, he's a character in these letters, isn't he?
0:25:36 > 0:25:41- Yes, he's a young character who needs discipline.- Of course.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44One moment they say he needs his lug to be pulled.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47So these, these are obviously friendly letters.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Who are they from and who are they addressed to?
0:25:51 > 0:25:57In this short period from '57 to '59,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Robert Murray was writing to his great friend Alexander Bruce.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06But Will Bruce, his name appears at least 19 times in these letters.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08Right. I mean can I see some of the letters?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10And the references to Will,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14- he's referred to in a very friendly way.- Well, one thought that.
0:26:14 > 0:26:20Now this letter, I see here it says half way through, "I send you this from Will.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25"In short his voyage and pains have made him no gains
0:26:25 > 0:26:28"but diminished his stock very much."
0:26:28 > 0:26:32- So obviously he's not a great success as a merchant.- No.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37But they, they kept trying. He was irrepressible, as it were, in the way
0:26:37 > 0:26:42he went about talking to people and trying to get their interest.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Even though he's lazy and...
0:26:45 > 0:26:49there's always a feeling of liveliness about him.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51So that's the portrait that emerges.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54He's a real character lurking, the third man in the letters,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57none by him or to him but about him.
0:26:57 > 0:27:03- But he emerges as an amusing character, bit lazy, but he's trying hard.- Yes.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05No, he's an irresistible character.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13So, even if Bruce's business career wasn't taking off,
0:27:13 > 0:27:18he was now mixing in the highest circles, the Royal Court in exile.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22There had to be some way of making irresistibility pay.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26I'm on the quay at Leith, Edinburgh,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30and this was Scotland's busiest port in the late-17th century.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33It was from here that William Bruce sailed on a regular basis
0:27:33 > 0:27:36to and from the low countries.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38He was, I know, a merchant, but not a very successful one.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Seems to me he must have been doing something else as well.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Through his connections to Sir Robert Murray,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54and at Court in exile, Bruce was able to meet General Monk,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57the most powerful man in Britain.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Monk was Cromwell's Commander in Chief, who secretly became
0:28:00 > 0:28:06the prime mover in the campaign to restore Charles Stuart to the throne.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09But only if Charles agreed to become a constitutional monarch,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12subservient to the control of Parliament.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17It was Bruce who helped Monk to do this.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Well, now we know that William Bruce was sailing
0:28:22 > 0:28:26in and out of Leith as a merchant in the 1650s.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29But was he doing something else on these journeys, do you think?
0:28:29 > 0:28:31There is a suggestion that he was,
0:28:31 > 0:28:36and part of the evidence for that is this document here,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40which is a pass or a passport issued by George Monk
0:28:40 > 0:28:44who's the Cromwellian Governor of Scotland in this period,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47- so a very important figure. - Under Commonwealth, yes.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50And it's a passport allowing Bruce to travel all over Scotland
0:28:50 > 0:28:53and between Scotland and Holland.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55To Holland, which is where Charles,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59- the future Charles II, is in exile at that time.- That's right.
0:28:59 > 0:29:00Amongst other places.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03So what's your feeling on Bruce's relationship
0:29:03 > 0:29:05with the future Charles II, and indeed with the Restoration?
0:29:05 > 0:29:10I think that Bruce is very useful in the pre-Restoration period,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12working as a go-between in this sense.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16I think the crucial point is this document, that it's directly from Monk.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20That would suggest it's something more than just a normal merchant's pass.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24And it really backs up this idea of Bruce as some kind of go-between,
0:29:24 > 0:29:30between the fixers in Holland and those in England and Scotland
0:29:30 > 0:29:32who are negotiating for the Restoration.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37If he'd been caught by parliamentary forces,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Bruce could have been executed.
0:29:40 > 0:29:46But, risky though it was, his passport to travel in and out of Scotland freely
0:29:46 > 0:29:48had an unexpected benefit for Bruce.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51In his homeland,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54there had been few major buildings constructed for nearly 100 years.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58But now Bruce had the chance to study the architecture of other lands.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04He was in the Low Countries,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07where there was a dramatic flowering of classical design,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11inspired by the great Italian Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16Bruce was impressed by Maastricht and Amsterdam city halls,
0:30:16 > 0:30:18and also influenced by the gardens
0:30:18 > 0:30:21of the Chateau of Vaux le Vicomte in France.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24The seeds of Kinross were being sown.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Although Bruce still was making little money,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34his fortunes were about to take a dramatic turn.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44On the 25th of May, 1660,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Charles Stuart lands in Dover after nine years in exile,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52and was soon crowned King of England as well as of Scotland.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02After years of economic and political stagnation,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Scotland began to celebrate.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07The Scottish Parliament was restored.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11No-one had higher hopes for the future than William Bruce.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15As a reward for carrying vital messages between the King-maker
0:31:15 > 0:31:22and the would-be King, William Bruce after the Restoration was showered with royal favours.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27One of these included being made one of the chief collectors in Scotland
0:31:27 > 0:31:29of taxes and custom duties.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32He kept a lot of that money, a high proportion, certainly,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35for himself, as was usual at the time,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38a very lucrative business indeed.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43So, it's amazing really - this one time wandering merchant
0:31:43 > 0:31:46became one of the richest men in Scotland.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54But the job that proved crucial for Bruce's ambitions as an architect
0:31:54 > 0:31:59was that of surveyor general to the King's works in Scotland.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02He'd been dabbling in architecture since the Restoration.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Now, in 1671, he had an official post.
0:32:07 > 0:32:14His first major commission was to redesign the royal palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19William Bruce spent 25 years designing other people's houses.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22This was possible because in the years after the Restoration
0:32:22 > 0:32:27in Scotland, the nation celebrated new stability in masonry and mortar.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30All of this was perfect for Bruce.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34It gave him the opportunity to hone those skills that he was to apply
0:32:34 > 0:32:39in the creation of his masterpiece, his own home, Kinross House.
0:32:42 > 0:32:48By now, William Bruce seemed to have it all - money,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51power and solid architectural experience.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55He was at last ready to build.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58What could possibly go wrong?
0:33:00 > 0:33:03A death in the family.
0:33:03 > 0:33:09In 1685, Charles II, Bruce's patron for 25 years, died of a seizure.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17Charles was succeeded by one of the most bone-headed monarchs in British history -
0:33:17 > 0:33:20his brother, who became James II.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Where Charles had accepted the limits of a constitutional monarchy
0:33:25 > 0:33:29and Britain's status as a Protestant nation, James didn't.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33He wanted to reimpose absolute monarchy and Catholicism.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Not great for Bruce, who was a Protestant.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43With his building project at Kinross hanging in the balance,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47William Bruce knew he had to take action to secure his dream.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51So he went straight down to London to see if he could curry favour
0:33:51 > 0:33:54with the stiff-backed and awkward new king.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07'Letters recounting the success of William's charm offensive still survive.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11'They're in the possession of the Montgomery family, who live in Kinross today.'
0:34:11 > 0:34:13- Hello.- I'm Lizzie. How are you?
0:34:13 > 0:34:16I've just walked into your house. That's all right, I hope.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18That's absolutely fine. How nice to see you.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21And it looks wonderful in the light.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24- Glowing stonework.- It's such a beautiful day.- It is.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26Seeing it at its best.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Yes, yes.
0:34:28 > 0:34:35'The letters were written by Bruce's loyal wife Mary, the mother of their two children.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40'She was writing to him while Bruce was in London trying to woo the King.'
0:34:40 > 0:34:45It is astonishing, isn't it, to have these letters from the late 17th century
0:34:45 > 0:34:51- in this house, written by the mistress of the house when it was being built?- Absolutely.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54It is mind boggling. It's so moving. Here they are.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57- They've always been in the house, have they?- They have.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59As far as we know, they have.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04And they're all from Mary Bruce, Sir William's wife? "My dear hart."
0:35:04 > 0:35:05- H-A-R-T.- Yes.
0:35:07 > 0:35:15She talks about the fact that she loves having his letters and she gives plenty of information to him.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19And I think she would ideally like him not to be in London for too long.
0:35:19 > 0:35:25But she goes on to say that she understands how important it is for his success.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Yes, yes, yes.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31"If you continue in your master's favour,
0:35:31 > 0:35:37"I will be well pleased, whatever success you have."
0:35:37 > 0:35:41That's amazing. "Your master" being presumably the new monarch. This is a critical date, isn't it?
0:35:41 > 0:35:44James II had just come onto the throne before this.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49But there's a really interesting little bit on the other page.
0:35:49 > 0:35:56"I am glad that my Lord Bruce is again brought into the bed chamber."
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Fascinating. So the bed chamber.
0:35:58 > 0:36:04In the sequence of rooms in the royal palace, those people who are allowed to progress
0:36:04 > 0:36:09as far as the bed chamber, where the King is, that means they're in high favour.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11They've got almost to the holy of holies.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16Isn't it this year that he's made part of the Privy Council?
0:36:16 > 0:36:22That's right. James II appoints William Bruce to the Privy Council of Scotland,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25which is essentially the governing body of Scotland, in 1685,
0:36:25 > 0:36:32so this is also when he starts to build the house in earnest. It's been on the backburner a bit.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Doing the gardens, planning it, but now he builds. He clearly feels confident.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39This letter captures and reveals that moment.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41It's an incredibly precious document, isn't it?
0:36:41 > 0:36:43It is amazing.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49Those letters really were revealing, particularly the one from November 1685,
0:36:49 > 0:36:56referring to the new King James II receiving Bruce in his bed chamber.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Obviously at that time Bruce was a very highly regarded courtier.
0:37:00 > 0:37:05He had to be to be received by the new King in such intimate circumstances.
0:37:05 > 0:37:10And of course it was James that put Bruce on the Scottish Privy council,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12essentially the governing body for Scotland,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14an incredible achievement for Bruce.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20He must have felt very secure in his position, in his wealth, in his power.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24And with good reason.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29He had, it seemed, charmed the notoriously prickly King James.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32He was once again a trusted courtier.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35He could start building immediately.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43Money was no object.
0:37:43 > 0:37:49Kinross would be the most expensive house in Scotland and the finest.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54Bruce brought in master stone masons from Holyrood Palace, wood carvers from Holland.
0:37:54 > 0:38:02He bought only the best, spending almost £20,000 in today's money on one leather wall hanging alone.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06His formal garden took him a decade to create.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11100,000 trees and exotic flowers came from all over Europe.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17All to realise his vision for a perfect Kinross.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25A vision the Montgomerys are still enjoying today.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30I can remember when we first moved in, when we evicted my parents 14 years ago.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33I can remember driving up the drive
0:38:33 > 0:38:37and having to stop and think, "Goodness, I live here, you know.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40- "This is ours now, this is our home."- Yeah.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Oddly enough, since then it's been more this side of the house.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47You stand there and you suddenly realise you never get bored with the view.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50For me, it is one of the stunning views.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53You just stare out here when the light's nice,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57looking out over the gardens, and you just can't get bored with it.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01This is a wonderfully easy house to live in. Yes, it's big.
0:39:01 > 0:39:07But it's been fabulously well designed and, you know, it's in very good nick.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09The upkeep, the upkeep of it.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11- It's well built. - It's well built, yeah.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Massive, solid, looks it, Roman quality built for eternity, really.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Jamie Montgomery's ancestors used the fortune they'd made
0:39:21 > 0:39:25from trade to buy Kinross in the late 18th century.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28It's been in the family ever since.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Jamie's father, Sir David, has lived here for 80 years.
0:39:35 > 0:39:41In his boyhood, the house entertained a royal visitor.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Oh, Queen Mary came to lunch.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46- Right.- And that was quite fun because I was...
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Did she fancy anything that she had to take with her?
0:39:50 > 0:39:53I'll tell you about that in a minute.
0:39:53 > 0:39:59But she came to lunch and I was about eight at the time,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03and we ended up on the front, on the steps there, watching it.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08And I then was allowed after the lunch to go and take her photograph with my little box brownie.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12- And we've got that copy of that photo.- Good heavens. - Which is rather fun.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26But as you rightly were saying a minute ago,
0:40:26 > 0:40:32there was always a question of Queen Mary saying, "I love that little figurine,"
0:40:32 > 0:40:36or whatever it was. And you always feel obliged to give it to her.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38My father went round putting everything away
0:40:38 > 0:40:44and she went into the library where she said, "Oh, I do like that wallpaper."
0:40:44 > 0:40:49And my father breathed a sigh of relief and reckoned there was no way he could take the wallpaper off.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54- Strip the wallpaper off! She was being merciful that day.- Yes, yes.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57'Today, life is less grand for the Montgomerys.'
0:40:57 > 0:41:04Royal visits are a thing of the past and the servants of Kinross have long gone.
0:41:04 > 0:41:11The housekeeping is all down to one person - the mistress of the house, Lizzie.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15It's the most lovely house to live in, it really is.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19And I never mind doing the housework or the dusting.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21If you live here, you don't really think about it.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26You get on and do it as part of being in a house and loving a house
0:41:26 > 0:41:32and being the sort of custodian for one's lifetime, or however long one is here.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34You just do the best you can.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39Actually, the windows are horrific.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41They all need cleaning desperately.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45I do clean them and it's got to be reasonably warm
0:41:45 > 0:41:50because you can imagine the ladders to come up here are quite tall, quite big.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53I try and coincide with the gardeners.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59If I fall off, it's not the end of the world.
0:41:59 > 0:42:05They can pick me up and normally they stand there waiting for me to fall off, but I haven't done so far.
0:42:15 > 0:42:21The main fabric of Kinross took William Bruce years to build and a lifetime to achieve.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26As he climbed the greasy pole of politics and royal favour,
0:42:26 > 0:42:32the house represented all his dreams of forming a dynasty, dreams that were to be dashed.
0:42:34 > 0:42:40What surprised me about Kinross is that the house was not completed by Bruce.
0:42:40 > 0:42:46This room, a very important room on the first floor, is not how he would have intended it to be.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Virtually all the detail here dates from the late 18th century.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54It's obvious that Bruce was running out of money.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58Clearly there's some very bad news lurking here.
0:43:02 > 0:43:03Here was Bruce's tragedy.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08Kinross was the house of his dreams but he was never able to finish it.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15The elaborate plasterwork on the ceilings remained incomplete.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22The woodwork in the dining room and staircase wasn't repeated anywhere else.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30Bruce only fully finished the basement and ground floor.
0:43:33 > 0:43:40Despite his carefully planned processional route fit for a king, no monarch ever paid him a visit.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46The great staircase led up to a desolate world.
0:43:46 > 0:43:52The grand saloon and state rooms were undecorated shells.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54The dream was unravelling.
0:44:03 > 0:44:10What happens on pleasant themes and events in people's lives often is a case of out of sight, out of mind.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Where would I hide bad news?
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Well, I'd probably bury it in the basement.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37Now, in front of me are letters
0:44:37 > 0:44:41from Mary Bruce to her husband, Sir William.
0:44:41 > 0:44:48These are written towards the end of both their lives in the 1690s.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52It's lovely, this one. It says, "For Sir William Bruce at Edinburgh"
0:44:52 > 0:44:57with a seal. This is the cover around the letter that's in front of me here.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00It says here, "My dearest harte."
0:45:00 > 0:45:05She's always very affectionate to Sir William, terrible spelling.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06Hard to make sense sometimes.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Oh, no, here we go. Oh, this is... Goodness.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12She says here to William,
0:45:12 > 0:45:17"As to my coming to you, there is many inconveniences
0:45:17 > 0:45:22"in that at the putting you to a great needless expense
0:45:22 > 0:45:26"when your purse is grown so light."
0:45:26 > 0:45:33Oh, she says why. "For I have hardly any clothes that I could be seen into."
0:45:33 > 0:45:40Good heavens, she hasn't got a decent dress to travel to Edinburgh in to see her husband.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45But, ah, look. I say she's short of money but not of pride, because she says here,
0:45:47 > 0:45:55"I am not so humbled for all that is come as to be content to appear in a contemptible manner."
0:45:55 > 0:46:00Good heavens. So Mary hasn't the money to travel
0:46:00 > 0:46:04to Edinburgh in a decent new dress to meet Sir William.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08They really are clearly strapped for cash.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Bruce's downfall came swiftly and cruelly.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22His ambitions rested on royal favour.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24Suddenly, it was taken away.
0:46:24 > 0:46:31In May 1686, only 12 months after he started building Kinross, James II,
0:46:31 > 0:46:38the king Bruce believed he'd wooed and won, turned nasty and sacked him from the Privy Council.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42Had Bruce done something to deserve this disgrace?
0:46:44 > 0:46:50So why do you think Bruce was dismissed from the Privy Council for Scotland in May 1686?
0:46:50 > 0:46:55There's been much supposition but the answer, real answer, is nobody knows.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59I suspect it may well have been the character of the man and the factional nature
0:46:59 > 0:47:06of Scottish politics, that he was just found to be backing the wrong side at the wrong moment.
0:47:06 > 0:47:13He believed that he was about to receive a viscountcy, Sir William Bruce. Viscount Kinross.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Justifying all of this. Now why did that happen, do you think?
0:47:16 > 0:47:20- Why did he lose that post?- I'm sure it is. It's the nature of the man.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22He's very ambitious. He's opportunistic.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27And this is a period when politics are changing with every reign almost.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29I mean, no principle involved?
0:47:29 > 0:47:32James II obviously was a whist a wilful fellow for
0:47:32 > 0:47:37re-impose autocratic rule, re-impose Roman Catholicism. Perhaps Bruce,
0:47:37 > 0:47:43a sort of Episcopalian and maybe as a man with some principles, opposed the King. Is that not possible?
0:47:43 > 0:47:48I don't ever see William Bruce as being a man of great principle.
0:47:48 > 0:47:53It's very difficult to remain on the up always when things are changing so quickly.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57He was described as one of the richest men in Scotland.
0:47:57 > 0:48:03By 1703, it's the Scots' legal definition of he is "put to the horn".
0:48:03 > 0:48:07His assets were sequestrated and I often wonder to myself whether
0:48:07 > 0:48:12the house doesn't actually play a part in his downfall.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Its owner doesn't seem to have come to the same conclusion.
0:48:19 > 0:48:26Despite being sacked, Bruce, now in his late 50s, continued to hurl large sums of money at the house.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31He'd always landed on his feet in the past.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34Perhaps he thought he could win back the trust of the king.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44If so, he didn't count for another royal twist of fate.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47The Glorious Revolution of 1688.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56The Catholic James II was removed from the throne.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00The Protestant William and Mary reigned in his stead.
0:49:02 > 0:49:08Where King James was unsympathetic to Bruce, King William was actively hostile.
0:49:08 > 0:49:14Bruce was singled out as a potential rebel because he'd supported James II.
0:49:14 > 0:49:19Here was the profound irony, given Bruce's harsh treatment by James.
0:49:19 > 0:49:24His previous form as a Stuart supporter was now to bring about Bruce's ruin.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41I'm arriving at the National Archives in Edinburgh, hoping to find out more about
0:49:41 > 0:49:46William Bruce's later, less successful and more obscure days.
0:49:49 > 0:49:55I'm going through the William Bruce papers and this document, this in a sense
0:49:55 > 0:50:02is what I've been hoping to find, to throw light on Bruce's late years, on a sense his downfall.
0:50:02 > 0:50:10Because here, this is a "Warrant for removing Sir William Bruce to the Castle of Edinburgh."
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Basically it's an arrest warrant.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17It says here, "The Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council
0:50:17 > 0:50:22"do hereby give order to remove him to the Castle of Edinburgh."
0:50:22 > 0:50:24That is 1696.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28What an amazing revelation.
0:50:28 > 0:50:34This one. Now this warrant, a few years later,
0:50:34 > 0:50:40this one is dated, here it is, March 1707.
0:50:40 > 0:50:47"These are in Her Majesty's name to authorise and require you, the receiver of this warrant,
0:50:47 > 0:50:53"to make strict and diligent search for the person of Sir William Bruce of Kinross.
0:50:53 > 0:51:01"And him having found to apprehend and seize for suspicion
0:51:01 > 0:51:06"of high treason and treasonable practices."
0:51:06 > 0:51:09So there we are. This is, as I say, 1707.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13So these documents open a window into the life of Sir William Bruce.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17He's arrested - arrested and taken into custody to Edinburgh Castle.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19And later on we discover
0:51:19 > 0:51:25he's arrested as a man suspected of treason, a rebel, a traitor,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30which means, of course, he's liable to the most ghastly and grisly death.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32To be hung, drawn and quartered.
0:51:32 > 0:51:33What a downfall.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45The final insult. Bruce, the man who tried to do away with castles,
0:51:45 > 0:51:51was now imprisoned in the most famous Scots castle of all, Edinburgh.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05Sir William Bruce
0:52:05 > 0:52:09could have been imprisoned in this actual cell.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Certainly we know that people accused of treason or regarded
0:52:13 > 0:52:17as rebels were held here in the 17th and 18th centuries.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21And what a dismal dungeon this is.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25It feels as if the room were cut from the very rock on which
0:52:25 > 0:52:30Edinburgh Castle sits, and certainly the floor is the castle rock,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34where he'd feel like a ghastly cave.
0:52:34 > 0:52:35Think of it.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41Dismal, dark, wet, horrible.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45And Sir William, a man around 70 years of age, used to power
0:52:45 > 0:52:49and privilege, sitting here where I'm sitting, with nothing to do.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54Apart, I suppose, from dream of freedom.
0:53:01 > 0:53:08Bruce was never convicted of being a rebel, but he was repeatedly held in jail.
0:53:08 > 0:53:14As he languished here, Scotland finally lost its battle for independent nationhood.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Bruce's country was broken.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22Overwhelming poverty forced the Scottish parliament to agree
0:53:22 > 0:53:28to the Act of Union with England in 1707 and rule was lost to London.
0:53:31 > 0:53:39Both journeys, for Bruce and his beloved Scotland, once so rich in promise, had come to a bitter end.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43I've come to the Bruce burial vault just next to Kinross House.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47I want to pay my respects to Sir William.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49I'm looking for his grave.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51But I can't find it.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55There are other Bruces buried here in the vault, a wonderful building.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57But not Sir William.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01It seems, of course, a great tragedy,
0:54:01 > 0:54:07the man that created Kinross House, the garden, has no memorial.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12Although, of course, the house, the garden, is his memorial
0:54:12 > 0:54:18and as long as they endure, so will the name of Will Bruce.
0:54:33 > 0:54:40After his death in 1710, the house only remained in the Bruce family for another 60 years.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44Then it was bought by the Montgomery's ancestors.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48It was they who finally finished Bruce's house.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01Sadly, this long chapter will also soon be over
0:55:01 > 0:55:07for Lizzie, Jamie and their two children, Iona and Edward.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Kinross is being sold.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15Their beloved house has become a financial drain,
0:55:15 > 0:55:20as it costs up to £150,000 a year just to run.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Well, Christmas a few days off.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32This probably is your last Christmas here.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Mm, yes, I should think it probably is.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37How does it feel?
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Well, it's sad, of course it's sad. But...
0:55:40 > 0:55:47it's life, really, isn't it? We have to just remember what fun we've had here and move forward.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51You're feeling brave, stoical, philosophical about moving,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54but of course, in a sense, you are carrying the banner for the family's
0:55:54 > 0:56:00previous generations, and I know your father is still alive and living here, or nearby.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02What does he feel?
0:56:02 > 0:56:08Yes, however hard it's going to hit us when we move out, I just...
0:56:08 > 0:56:11It's a fraction, I suspect, of what it's going to affect my parents,
0:56:11 > 0:56:17particularly my father, whose entire life has revolved around the house and the estate.
0:56:17 > 0:56:22And I can't even begin to think what's going through his mind about this.
0:56:22 > 0:56:29But I have to say the bravery he showed to me and everything else, has just been such a support.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37I think we've just got... I just really had to make that decision.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41It's unfortunate that it's happened on my watch, so to speak,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45but it was always going to happen to someone.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49Someone was going to have to take the decision and it's been my misfortune that
0:56:49 > 0:56:52it's been me that's had to take that.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03Of course, secretly, there must be something you're dreading.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07- What are you dreading most? - I am dreading leaving here.
0:57:07 > 0:57:13The thought of going off down the drive and knowing that we're not going to be going back in again
0:57:13 > 0:57:15is going to be tough.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18- So it's the... - Don't make me cry. I do cry.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22No, it's utterly miserable, actually.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25It will be very difficult, it will be very difficult.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30Can't pretend any of us are looking forward to that particular moment but, you know,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33I think one's just got to look forward, move on
0:57:33 > 0:57:36and, you know, immerse ourselves in a project of building our new home.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39- Yes.- Which I think, you know, it ought to be able to take our mind
0:57:39 > 0:57:43wonderfully off the hurt and anguish of actually moving out of here.
0:57:47 > 0:57:54Just as it did for William Bruce, the house has got the better of the Montgomerys as well.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57Kinross now awaits its new owner
0:57:57 > 0:58:00and the next chapter of its extraordinary life.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:18 > 0:58:21E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk