Tartan: A Scottish Gift of Self-Expression

On a Saturday summer morning in the last decade, an old-school comrade and I left our rundown flat in Camberwell, London, for Easter Moncreiffe, a country house near Bridge of Earn in Perthshire, Scotland. Freshmen to the rigours, or not, of employment in London, it was not the Belmond Royal Scotsman sleeper, where we would have sipped on silver-plated champagne flutes while reclining on a sofa bedecked with bespoke tartan upholstery, and no, we were not gabbling and glugging Manhattan cocktails at the party in number seven, the top sleeping bunk of the Clover Colony Pullman car in San Diego. 

There’s a sombre theme of tragedy that seems to follow important and bodacious families. The Kennedys, Harlechs, Onassises and Gettys spring to mind. The present Moncrieffe House, the seat of the Hon. Peregrine Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 12th Baronet, is uninhabited. It is in fact a building designed by Scottish architect Sir William Kininmonth, and built in 1962 to replace the original House, a grand Stuart-era manor that was erected in 1679. However, it was not only totally destroyed by fire in 1957, but also tragically claimed the life of Sir David Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 10th Baronet and two brothers, Peregrine and Merlin, 24th Earl of Erroll, now serve as the chieftains of the Moncreiffe and Hay Clans respectively. 

In the 1960s, Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 11th Baronet, the husband of Diana and father of Merlin and Peregrine, established the Puffin's private members' luncheon club, where eccentric nobles, writers and actors such as King Zog of Albania, Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor and Terence Stamp conversed with one another. Diana was in fact the only child of Josslyn Hay, 21st Earl of Errol, and Lady Idina Sackville, both of whom, along with nearly every expatriate of the Happy Valley set during the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s in Kenya, were infinitely debonair and glamorous, but shared an insatiable appetite for lovemaking. 

Holding a position in the Hall of Fame Archives of Henry Pool & Co., and sitting alongside customers such as Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, is Sir Jock Delves Broughton who, in wider society, is better affiliated with standing trial in Nairobi, the capital of Britain’s former Kenya Colony, for the murder of the 22nd Earl of Erroll. Cuckolded by his wife, incidentally also called Diana, Sir Jock testified and told of a two-line dialogue between himself and the Earl: “Diana tells me she is in love with you.” “She never told me that, but I’m frightfully in love with her.” 

Sir Jock committed suicide in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool shortly after his acquittal, thereby escalating suspicions that persist to this day, similar to those surrounding the unresolved disappearance of Lord Lucan. He has never faced the jury for the murder of his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett, which therefore continues to elicit growing intrigue, one of many regrettable yet spellbinding instances as a consequence of illicit behaviour. And it’s not beyond compromising members of the British royal family, although to a much lesser degree of human severity. In September 1928, the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and his brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, as part of an African tour, were greeted in Kenya by naked, painted warriors, who welcomed the royal ‘goodwill’ visitors with the brandishing of spears. Other natives however donned ‘store clothes’ and sang “God Save the King”. 

Earlier in the current decade, the storied family-owned Scottish heritage luxury fashion and eminent textile brand, Johnstons of Elgin, celebrated their 225-year anniversary with the launch of their House Check tartan. Their esteemed Elgin Mill, which is the final fully vertical facility in Scotland, is in possession of an entry for Super Balmoral Tweed, woven on July 13, 1853. This was during the period of Queen Victoria's tartan craze, influenced by Sir Walter Scott's novels. Her husband, Prince Albert, designed a Balmoral tartan, and there is a suggestion that the entry was for tartan rather than tweed; shortly after Queen Victoria bought Balmoral Castle and estate, in 1852, she assigned each clan a specific tartan, although it is important to factor that most Clan tartans can be worn by external society. 

However, let's go back to the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry. As children and young men they always looked splendid when dressed up in Highland regalia, largely due to Queen Victoria's infatuation with tartan. During their near-fateful trip to Kenya, they met Beryl Markham at a ball at the slightly exotic, yet notorious, Muthaiga Club. Despite being born in England, Markham became a Kenyan aviator and, going through a divorce, it's believed that both brothers indulged in romantic liaisons with her. However, Henry’s secret courtship spilt over to the UK, in particular with meetings taking place at the Grosvenor Hotel, Mayfair. Only the placement of money into a trust for Markham prevented a royal scandal. 

But back to the royals longstanding connection with tartan. The Royal Stewart tartan is undoubtedly the most recognisable, dating back to around 1800. The Balmoral tartan, the design that royals have most sported, arrived over 50 years later. In modern times, King Charles III, who has always donned tartan kilts with distinction, has recently had the Balmoral Glen Gelder tartan registered for his 76th birthday. Prince Philip was another immaculate proponent of the tartan kilt, but, in true Duke of Windsor style, he also favoured the pattern in a less structured way, with a nonconformist edge, such as the Lord of the Isles woollen tartan suit, of which he commissioned the jacket from his long-standing Savile Row tailor Freidrich Scholte, with the trousers by New York-based tailor H. Harris, as he nearly always opted for belts rather than braces. Worn as early as the 1960s, he rocked the suit for the rest of his life, and it has since been the subject of many fashion exhibitions. 

Described as ‘one of those rare men who gives eccentricity a good name’, Sir Iain Moncreiffe held hereditary duties dating back to 1248. In addition to masterminding a blend of Scotch bearing the Moncreiffe name, which was marketed, his preferred dress was tartan trews, tartan ties and tartan jackets. In 1974, he wrote, “I took fancy to an 18th century suit in a red and green diced tartan in the Edinburgh Castle Museum and decided to adopt it as the Moncreiffe tartan, with the red to represent the sacred tree from which we took out Gaelic surname.” 

Upon our arrival at Easter Moncreiffe, an authentic hideaway typically reserved for shooting or Scottish reeling activities, we found the vast dining room flanked by imposing yet magnificent imperial deer antlers, but this time they were amidst a themed party atmosphere. Before the merriment in the dining room culminated in a spectacular fireworks display and groovy late-night dancing in a stylish open-air tent adjacent to the house, we engaged with other guests outside and glanced in different directions. A consistent swarm of guests emerged, reminiscent of the mob, musicians and cross-dressers. Among these, there were ladies looking fabulous in the guise of Marilyn Monroe, who was amazingly a descendent of the Munro clan from Moray. And then there was either full Highland dress, featuring an array of different tartan designs, or the most sublime blend of traditional Scottish attire with Prohibition-era Chicago outfits, in accordance with the theme of the night, the film Some Like it Hot. 

The Moncreiffe family, especially Peregrine's immediate family, with whom I am more familiar, are truly wonderful, incredibly hospitable and charismatic individuals. Unsurprisingly, when Peregrine greeted me, he was wearing the most spectacular Highland dress. He matched the film's sartorial quirks with a well-cut single-breasted jacket, tailored with elongated padded shoulders and notch lapels and adorned with silver brass buttons. And it was designed in the very red and green tartan that his father had written about. When paired with a white wing collar shirt and a navy bowtie, the bottom half transported you back to the '20s and even earlier. The sporran, nearly matching the Prince Henry of Battenberg version, which was decorated with leopard skin, hung over the front of an unusual yet infinitely stylish handmade leather kilt, which featured all of the superior accompaniments you could imagine. The tartan kilt hose, worn with garters, finished just shy of the knee, but in Peregrine's style, the pattern peeks through the classic '20s strap and buckle brogues. 

Post a salubrious three-course sit-down supper, the gaiety of the soiree really began when Peregrine joined the band on an extremely high ledge of the grand dining room, and in his full regalia he sang and danced along with the band, all of whom were sporting marvellous tartan kilts, playing a mandolin, accordion, Northumbrian smallpipes and the drums. The artistic jocularity on the ledge is an authentic embodiment of where self-expression stems from in a cross-section of cultures. 

The Sex Pistol's Johnny Rotten can be seen strolling to court in a bold tartan suit with a clashing tartan tie, while the Bay City Rollers added extra tartan stardust in the 1970s, causing a harum-scarum of tartan joy among fans. Returning to Africa, the Pedi people of South Africa have worn vibrant red tartan kilts since 1879, symbolising their historic encounter with the Scottish in battle. A winner of the Royal Open at St. Andrews in 1995, the flamboyant John Daly was invited to this year's tournament at Royal Troon, also in Scotland, and while puffing on a cigarette, he competed in a pair of garish tartan shorts, which exuded toned-down etiquette compared to Prince Henry of Prussia playing a round of golf in an exquisite high-waisted kilt. 

Vivienne Westwood, known as ‘the high priestess of punk fashion’, not only captivated the elite with her renowned Anglomania collection in Paris on March 14, 1993, but also collaborated with Scottish weavers Locharron to create her own tartan, subsequently adding it to the Scottish Register of Tartan. Even by Vivienne Westwood's standards, Alexander McQueen's Fall 1995 show, "Highland Rape", was more subversive. It was probably one of the most controversial catwalk shoots of all time, but you can't deny the artistry and exquisite clothing inventions. Whether it's the centuries-old Fraser family tartan adorning the inner lining of the iconic G9 Baracuta Harrington jacket, Scottish society dancing in full Highland regalia at the Caledonian Club of San Francisco, or its continued role in royal endeavours, no fabric design has influenced cultures more than tartan.