The grand archway in the handsome village of Fettercairn recalls a visit by Victoria and Albert and their entourage in September 1861. From the Bridge of Muick near Ballater, the Queen’s party had taken to ponies to cross the ancient track, the Mounth Road, which crosses the high shoulder of Mount Keen. The party then dropped steeply down to Glen Mark and then went by a small carriage to reach Fettercairn which, the Queen noted in her diary, was forty miles from Balmoral. The party stayed anonymously at a local inn and were even able to walk, late at night, through the streets unrecognised! Within three months of this happy expedition, the Prince Consort was dead.