The Albert Cairn, Balmoral

Photograph from an album of the stone built pyramid or cairn constructed on the top of Creag an Lurachain on the Balmoral estate to the memory of Prince Albert who died in 1861. At the foot of the cairn and to the left, stands a man reading the plaques on the side of the pyramid. Moorland scrub dominates the foreground in front of the monument. One of these plaques reads: 'To the beloved memory of Albert, the great and good Prince Consort, erected by his broken hearted widow, Victoria R.

The Queen wrote of the cairn in her journal for the 21st August 1862 'At 11, I started off in the little pony chair, Bertie, (who had come over from birkhall) on foot, & the 2 girls on ponies, for Craig Lowrigan [sic], getting actually up to the very top. Here at the top is the foundation, 40 feet wide, for the cairn to be erected to the memory of my precious Albert, which will be seen all down the valley...the cairn is to be 35 feet high.' RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) 21^st August 1862