John Brown was piper and ghillie (servant) of Queen Victoria with whom she had an unusual relationship after the death of her husband, Prince Albert in 1861. A story of this relationship is told in the 1997 film Mrs Brown starring Dame Judi Dench as the Queen and the comedian Billy Connolly as John Brown. The film explores the possible basis of the relationship and the uproar that it caused at the time. A summary of the story can be found on the worldwide web at the Wikipedia entry.

      The plaid displayed here is a gift of Mrs Louisa Kelman, Boat of Garten