Fodor's Expert Review Scone Palace
The current residence of the Earl of Mansfield, Scone Palace (pronounced skoon) is much more cheerful than the city's other castles. Although it incorporates various earlier works, the palace today has mainly a 19th-century theme, with mock castellations that were fashionable at the time. There's plenty to see if you're interested in the acquisitions of an aristocratic Scottish family: magnificent porcelain, some sumptuous furniture, a fine collection of ivory, clocks, and 16th-century needlework. Each room has a guide who will happily talk you through its contents and their associations. In one bedroom hangs a portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a young Black woman who was born into slavery in the British West Indies, then taken to England by her white British father and raised by the Mansfield family; while her father only officially granted her freedom upon his death, she was raised as a free gentlewoman and became a well-known society beauty in the 1760s. (The 2013 film Belle... READ MORE
The current residence of the Earl of Mansfield, Scone Palace (pronounced skoon) is much more cheerful than the city's other castles. Although it incorporates various earlier works, the palace today has mainly a 19th-century theme, with mock castellations that were fashionable at the time. There's plenty to see if you're interested in the acquisitions of an aristocratic Scottish family: magnificent porcelain, some sumptuous furniture, a fine collection of ivory, clocks, and 16th-century needlework. Each room has a guide who will happily talk you through its contents and their associations. In one bedroom hangs a portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a young Black woman who was born into slavery in the British West Indies, then taken to England by her white British father and raised by the Mansfield family; while her father only officially granted her freedom upon his death, she was raised as a free gentlewoman and became a well-known society beauty in the 1760s. (The 2013 film Belle is based on her life.) A coffee shop, restaurant, gift shop, maze, and play area are on-site. The palace has its own mausoleum nearby, on the site of a long-gone abbey on Moot Hill, the ancient coronation place of the Scottish kings. To be crowned, they sat on the Stone of Scone, which was seized in 1296 by Edward I of England, Scotland's greatest enemy, and placed in the coronation chair at Westminster Abbey, in London. The stone was returned to Scotland in November 1996 and is now on view in Edinburgh Castle. You can only see the palace on a timed guided tour, which you should book in advance.
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