Emily Jane Flora Helen Crichton-Stuart was born in The Linn of Dee, near Braemar, Scotland, the only daughter of the second son of an old Scots Family. Known to everyone as Emily and to her few friends as “Em” she spent her very early years in the Glens and Mountains of Royal Deeside, often in the company of the Men of her Fathers regiment.

 

At seven years of age she was sent to an English Preparatory school near Oxford, where she was seen very much as a tomboy, and where her love of music was formed and the school values of honesty, politeness and integrity were instilled, and where a stubborn streak and a volcanic temper were first discovered.

 

Emily joined Cheltenham Ladies College at twelve years of age and was immediately perceived as a rebel finding it difficult to fit into the school way of doing things, she was involved in various unfortunate incidents and her relationship with the school was terminated after only three terms.

Extract. Final School report on leaving.

 

“Emily is a nice girl, unfailingly polite and turned out, has a strong sense of right and wrong and, moves effortlessly in all social environments.

 

Emily is an accomplished pianist and games player, having represented her Country at hockey at a junior level.

 

However she displays no interest in other subjects and is often found gazing into space, we suspect thinking of her home. She is a patriotic Scot and once rounded on a Mistress in a History lesson that she felt failed to understand the realities of the 1745 Rebellion and lectured the Mistress and the form at great length.

 

This together with other “adventures” has sadly led us to think that she should attend a school with a more disciplined structure.

 

This girl displays a strong sense of fairness, no sense of personal danger and an inability to refuse a dare, these things have meant that she has often been brought to my attention. She accepts both blame and retribution with equanimity and is intensely loyal. In conclusion we shall miss her happy carefree approach to life, but breath a collective sigh of relief that her time with us is ended and peace may reign again.

 

I have no doubt that had she been born 300 years earlier she would have joined her Ancestor Charles Stuart and led the Clans against England, no doubt thinking the whole thing a huge adventure. We wish her well.”