Beverage At The Royal George Hotel, Perth, Scotland

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Royal George Royalty

Beverage At The Royal George Hotel, Perth, Scotland

The Helen MacGregor Cocktail Bar

Fine wines, beers and a vast selection of Malt whiskies are available from our well stocked bar, and from the terrace guests have another chance to take In the unspoilt views of Smeatons bridge and The River Tay.

In the evening the bar has a mixed clientele including anglers, shooters, golfers, curlers and race goers. Such a mix of guests ensures that the stories of the one that got away and the birdie that might have been are never far away!

Robert Roy MacGregor - Rob Roy, The Scottish Robin Hood

Robert Roy MacGregor, (March 7, 1671 - December 28, 1734) usually known simply as Rob Roy or alternately Red MacGregor, was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century who is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood.

Rob Roy was born at Glengyle, at the head of Loch Katrine, as proved by an extract from the Register of Baptisms of Buchanan Parish. His father was Donald MacGregor and his mother Margaret Campbell.

He married his cousin Mary Helen MacGregor of Comar, who was born at Leny Farm, Strathyre. They were married in Glenarklet in January 1693. Later they had four sons: James, known as Mor or Tall, Ranald, Coll, and Robert, known as Robin Oig or Young Rob, who himself went on to achieve literary distinction in a cameo role in Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped". A cousin Duncan was later adopted.

Helen MacGregor was a ferocious Amazon and staunch Jacobite - "an awfu' wife she is" according to Bailie Nicol Jarvie, who later described her as "nane o' the maist douce maidens, nor meekest wives neither, and folk say that Rob himsell stands in awe o' her."

She confronted Jarvie and Frank Osbaldistone when they rode into Rob Roy's country. Frank Osbaldistone recalls, "I have seldom seen a finer or more commanding figure than this woman. She might be between the term of forty and fifty years, and had a countenance which must once have been of a masculine cast of beauty; though now, imprinted with deep lines by exposure to rough weather, and perhaps by the wasting influence of grief and passion, its features were only strong, harsh, and expressive. She wore her plaid…disposed around her body as the Highland soldiers wear theirs. She had a man's bonnet, with a feather in it, an unsheathed sword in her hand, and a pair of pistols at her girdle."

Helen exacted a cruel price from anyone who crossed her, and ordered the drowning of the English traveller Morris for decoying her husband into a trap. As Rob Roy sais, "My Helen's an incarnate devil when her bluid's up."

Rob Roy is anglicised from the Gaelic Raibeart Ruadh, or Red Robert. This is because Rob Roy had red hair, though it darkened to auburn in later life.

Rob Roy was a well known and respected cattleman - this was a time when cattle were considered common property, taking someones cattle was not illegal, and selling protection against theft was an honest means of earning a living. Rob Roy borrowed a large sum of money to increase his own cattle herd, but due to the deception of his chief herder who was entrusted with the money to bring the cattle back, Rob Roy lost his money and cattle and defaulted on his loan. As a result he was branded an outlaw, his wife and family were evicted from their house at Inversnaid which was then burned down. After his principal creditor, James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose seized his lands, Rob Roy warred with the duke until 1722, when Rob Roy was forced to surrender. Later imprisoned, he was finally pardoned in 1727. He died in his house at Inverlochlarig Beg, Balquhidder, on 28 December 1734.

Daniel Defoe wrote a fictionalized account of his life in 1723 called Highland Rogue making Rob Roy a legend in his own lifetime, influencing George I to issue a pardon for his crimes just as he was about to be transported to the colonies. The publication of Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott in 1817 further added to his fame and fleshed out his biography. William Wordsworth wrote a poem called "Rob Roy's Grave" during a visit to Scotland (the 1803 tour was documented by his sister Dorothy Wordsworth in Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland). Adaptations of his story have also been told in film, most notably Rob Roy (1995) directed by Michael Caton-Jones.

Glengyle House on the shore of Loch Katrine dates back to the early 18th century with a porch dated to 1707, and is built on the site of the 17th century stone cottage in which Rob Roy is said to have been born. Since the 1930s the Category B-listed building had been in the hands of successive water authorities, but was identified as surplus to requirements and put up for auction in November 2004 despite objections from the Scottish National Party.

The Royal George Hotel
Tay Street, Perth PH1 5LD, Scotland
Telephone : +44(0) 01738 624455 Fax : +44(0) 01738 630345
E-Mail : info@theroyalgeorgehotel.co.uk