Frances Farquharson’s life was one of colour, adventure and constant activity, and there is no other community that can testify to this as strongly as Braemar.
Even today, years after The British Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar journalist’s death in 1991, and a month after this year’s Braemar Gathering – where she would don her tartan creations – echoes of her love of colour, Scottish textiles and people remain.
The wife of Alwyne Farquharson, the Laird of Invercauld, was known for her “colourful, dynamic and flamboyant” character.
Always on the go even at home, Frances would often persuade people visiting Invercauld to swap their cup of tea for helping her to rearrange the furniture.
Her ideas were often vibrant, with the fashionista famously favouring pink and yellow –Â colours which still feature inside Braemar Castle and murals in Braemar.
Brushing elbows with the Royal family on their Deeside visits, Frances was normally pictured at the Braemar Gathering wearing tartan in a way that made people look twice.
Something author Caroline Young did on seeing one of her fabulous tartan outfits on display at the National Museum of Scotland in 2017.
Early life involved travel, Russian royalty and tragedy
Amazed by the outfit, Caroline, who has written several books on fashion history, said Frances intrigued her.
So much so, that she set about writing the first biography on the fascinating journalist and woman of fashion.
“She just stuck in my mind,” she said. “The way she created her own unique look out of tartan, it was quite revolutionary.
“I just felt like her life story would be interesting and intriguing to research.”
Born Frances Lovell Oldham in Seattle in 1902, Frances became an aspiring writer and sailed across the Atlantic to Europe in the 1920s.
Using her “charm and personality”, during her travels she met and worked with famous fashion designers and Russian royalty, and even stayed at the Queen of Romania’s palace.
In 1928, Frances settled in the UK and married a First World War aviation hero. However, in 1933 tragedy in the form of a house fire struck.
The flames killed her husband and Frances broke her back after she jumped out of a window at their Hampshire country house to escape the fire.
Doctors told her she might never walk again, but Caroline said: “She was determined and she overcame the odds. She then got a job as the editor of Harper’s Bazaar.”
Taking the magazine through the Second World War, Frances used it to boost morale among women.
During this time, Frances remarried and had a daughter, Marybelle, with Charles Gordon from Aberdeenshire.
But then an invite to Braemar Castle changed everything.
Frances Farquharson in Braemar
Alwyne Farquharson’s aunt died during the Blitz in 1941, leaving him Chief and Laird of Invercauld.
Frances was invited to help take inventory of Braemar Castle where she met and fell in love with him.
She divorced her second husband, married Alwyne – who was 17 years younger than her – in 1949, and moved to Invercauld.
What followed was years of hard work to get the vast estate in order.
Frances also used her “persuasive powers” to start new businesses, a creative festival, and support local creators.
“She was really all about encouraging the arts, local creativity, products and skills,” Caroline said.
“She championed well-made local textiles (wool, tartan and tweed). That was quite novel at the time.”
Tartan outfits at the Braemar Gathering and Royal family visits
However, Frances made sure to put her own spin on the Scottish products.
Caroline said: “The way that she interpreted tartan and brought a new way of wearing it was really groundbreaking. She was doing this before Diana came to the Braemar Gathering wearing tartan dresses.”
Frances and Alwyne would host guests such as Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and through their role with the estate built good relationships with the Royal family.
Frances would always be there to greet the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh when they arrived at Balmoral, and would be invited to the Ghillies Ball and have drinks with the Queen Mother at Birkhall.
Caroline added: “I think King Charles was very fond of her, so they had a good relationship.”
‘She was just so incredibly unique’: The inspiring legacy of Frances Farquharson
Speaking to Caroline, Marybelle Drummond, Frances’s daughter, said: “There was no one like her at all, she was just so incredibly unique. She just found people exhilarating.
“She was always very interested in other people and always wanted to help people.”
Always the last person standing at a party, despite her back problems, she said her mum still had that “enthusiasm and sparkle in her eye”, even in her 80s.
Researching Frances’s story for two years, Caroline said her own life had not remained unaffected.
Considering repainting her home office pink, Caroline said the most memorable inspiration came from a list of New Year resolutions in an issue of Harper’s Bazaar, published after Frances had just recovered from the house fire.
Among some “frivolous fashion” points (like never wearing feathers and flowers together), Caroline said: “She says things like ‘to keep my troubles to myself’.
“‘To always remain cheerful and to get on with things’ and I think that stayed with me.
“To help others to prosper, not to interfere into other people’s affairs and to encourage enterprise.
“Those messages stuck with her throughout her life.”
The Fabulous Frances Farquharson: The Colourful Life of an American in the Highlands paperback will be published on October 17 while the hardback is out now.Â
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