Scotsman Obituaries: Flora Crichton, driving force behind preservation of Traquair House

Flora and her younger brother Nicholas were first sent to St Alfred’s School in Cambridge, co-educational and considered “modern”, and then St Mary’s Convent School in Ascot. Her parents moved in creative circles which included the Packenham family, and Flora would often reflect that it was the historian Elizabeth (married to Frank Packenham, 7th Earl of Longford) who converted her to socialism at the age of eight.

With the end of the Second World War, the Carr-Saunders family acquired a flat on the top floor of a tall, bomb-damaged house in Kensington, and Flora attended the Holy Child Convent in Cavendish Square. She writes affectionately on the subject in her memoir A Gift of Time, published by Birlinn in 2004.

Following a trip to South Africa with her father, she worked briefly with Cape Town University’s Social Science department on a survey of Cape-Coloured education. On her return to London, she enrolled at Camberwell School of Art and in 1954 she met Peter Maxwell-Stuart, who was working for the Distillers Company. Their first date was when he took her to the cinema to see The Seven Samurai.

Traquair House, on the banks of the River Tweed at Innerleithen, was a hunting lodge when it was acquired in the 15th century by Peter’s ancestor, the Earl of Buchan, half-uncle of James III. Over the subsequent 200 years, the Stuarts of Traquair remained close to the Scottish Crown, their home having been visited by 27 Scottish monarchs. By the time the 7th Laird was granted an earldom in 1633, the lodge had been transformed from a three-storey tower into a graceful four-storey country house.

The celebrated Bear Gates, at the far end of the entrance drive, were permanently closed following a visit from Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1745, whereupon the staunchly Jacobite 5th Earl and 11th Laird ordained that they would only reopen when the Stuarts regained the British throne.

In the following century, the Traquair estate was handed down through the generations until the death in 1875 of the unmarried Lady Louisa Stuart, whereupon it passed to her cousin Henry Constable Maxwell, who took the surname of Maxwell Stuart. In 1942, it passed to Peter’s father Francis, who died 20 years later. Flora and Peter married in September 1956 at St Ethelreda’s, one of the oldest Catholic Churches in London. The couple’s early married life was spent in Chelsea.

Then came word, in 1962, that Francis had died and the challenge for Peter and Flora began. As with all of Scotland’s great historic houses, the repairs and business of Traquair proved to be all-consuming and the couple’s resourcefulness was severely tested through a spate of entrepreneurial schemes to maintain the upkeep of a national treasure – opening up the house to the public, reconstituting the 300-year-old Traquair Brewery, launching the annual Traquair Fair, hosting countless weddings, and even using the house as a film location.

The spectacular Maze, which is situated to the rear of the house, was created in 1981 and was Flora’s brainchild. Designed by the craft worker John Schofield, it is the largest hedged maze in Scotland.

For more than 30 years, Flora and Peter worked relentlessly as a team, welcoming visitors and lovingly cherishing their spectacular home. Their daughter Catherine, the 21st Laird, was born in 1964 and, supported by her husband Mark Muller KC and their three children, Isabella, Louis and Charlotte, continues to run the Traquair House Charitable Trust and the annual Beyond Borders International Festival.

But the project was not without its setbacks. Peter’s unexpected death in 1990 came as a devastating shock for Flora, who characteristically showed enormous fortitude in continuing their work together before eventually handing over the responsibilities to their daughter. The Traquair House Charitable Trust was set up in 1999 to ensure the long term sustainability of the house and estate. That same year, she found happiness again with her second husband, the film producer Robin Crichton.

A talented writer, she also found time to write Lady Nithsdale & The Jacobites (1995) and occasional articles for The Scotsman, including tracking down and interviewing Prince Franz of Bavaria, the present claimant to the Stuart dynasty.

A sharply intelligent hostess, Flora was never one to hold back on her opinions. Notwithstanding, throughout her life her wit and generosity of spirit gathered around her a devoted circle of friends and admirers from all corners of society.

She will be fondly remembered by all who knew her.

Obituaries

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