Butler at Ayton castle

From : "Coincidences I have Met" : by Tusitala Terry.
When, a good year later, Helen and Anne wrote me that they are au-pairing at a castle in
Scotland, of course I wrote back asking if the Lord of the castle needed a butler over
Christmas; and the answer was Yes! So off I flew to Heathrow, about a fortnight pre-Xmas.
Train London to Berwick-upon-Tweed, then taxi in misty early morning hours to Ayton
Castle; dropped off at the Gate Keeper's cottage. Maybe a mile's walk through pine trees and
alongside heather before the castle, more a manor house, manifested itself; I stood and
stared; and waited until a light was turned on up in the garret. My signal to make my way
around the back - I knew the etiquette, servants and workmen use the back door- and waited
until the girls appeared in the kitchen.
Later that day I got attired in a butler suit hired from the local town; then straight into serving
and slaving. Very little of the latter, however and thankfully. I was invited to go deer hunting
with the Lord; we were welcome guests at the New Year Hogmanay; we could use the Lord's
runabout, a Dutch automatic DAF to discover the countryside. It was all very special.
The Lord's mother though was an Original, a stickler; she would blast anybody ringing the
front door bell who was not of a certain standing, like royalty or blue blooded; "get round the
back"! The Lord was a second cousin to the Queen. She was though the original Lady of the
House, the Mother-in-law of the present Lady; but being Xmas I could not avoid calling her
"Aunty"; which really annoyed her, verily very much annoyed her. Oh dear. But I was still
asked to bring her breakfast to her room; so to the kitchen, eggs scrambled, kippers poached,
hot buttered toast, butter and marmalade; up the stairs with the tray to find her often enough
in the shower; "sorry, Aunty"!
Then the Guest of Honour arrived for the festivities and Christmas: the only living grandchild
of Queen Victoria, her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. She was
ninety years old. She was to be addressed as "Mam" which in her case I did not get
wrong. In the family it was believed and told me that Alice in Wonderland was written with
her in mind...... and I knew what happened or was commanded when one offended the
Queen: "Off with his head"!....
Serve on the left, take away on the right; don't spill wild salmon juice on the guests; remove
pepper and salt shakers before serving dessert. A few do's / don'ts I had to learn as Butler.
Then it happened: I was told that Princess Alice wanted to sit with me one dinner time, to
talk, in German, with me about Germany and travel. I had lived in Germany about one year
by now, in Munich; but had taken six months in 1972 to get to Germany and the Munich
Olympics; and she was one of the most travelled members of the Royal Family and besides
political appointments in foreign lands she had also travelled widely herself, famously as a
woman all the way from South Africa up through East Africa to Arabian lands. She had also
studied some technical subjects in Germany during the early Nazi period. So there I sat, with
her on my left, with the Lord of the castle next to the Princess at the head of the table; and
the kids of the castle served us dinner. No, sorry, I don't remember anything of my
conversation with Her Highness.
In February 1973 she was directed to sit in the ormolu'd Royal Carriage to be horse-drawn to
Westminster Abbey for Princess Anne's wedding; but she refused as being 'below her
dignity' so she took a car (an Uber?! - no!). But later that same year of Grace she wished to
sit next to the colonial boy and talk 'foreign'.
To conclude, to round up, to add up, whatever, the story of the Lord and Lady of Ayton
Castle: the next year 1974 I paid a visit to the Castle with my parents and younger sister; we
were made welcome, but not by the Lady I knew; who had discreetly withdrawn to make
place for a Norwegian woman and that woman's husband; a thoroughly outrageous and
scandalous menage a trois with the Queen's second cousin.
Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone: 1883 - 1981; one brother Prince Charles
born 1884; both children brought up by their mother at Claremont House in Surrey, England. Married
1904 to Prince Alexander of Teck at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Lady Violet Grenville
commentated: "Unlike most royal brides, this bride looked the picture of happiness". Three children.
1917 and anti-German sentiment meant the Teck surname was to change to Cambridge. Post WW1
Alice became one of the most widely travelled members of the royal family: Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Malaya (Malaysia), Singapore, Siam (Thailand), South Africa, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Uganda, Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, the West Indies, Canada and the USA. In 1966 Alice published "For my Grandchildren", a memoir describing her life, duties and travels. Christmas at Ayton Castle 1973. Died peacefully in her sleep on 03. January 1981, at Kensington Palace. Royal historian Hugo Vickers once declared Alice "should have been made a saint".
Prince Charles, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, held a commission in the German Army in WW1, thereafter was stripped of his British titles. He was a member of Hitler's Reichstag from 1937 to 1945; after the war, General Patton had him arrested. He was sentenced by a de-nazification court, heavily fined and almost bankrupted.