History

In 1856, Mr John Hunter was appointed the new manager of the Fife Arms Hotel, with him promising to provide a ‘First-class Hotel’ stocked with wines and spirits selected from the best firms.

Queen Victoria regularly stopped at the Fife Arms Hotel to change her horses on her way to Balmoral or to visit Mar Lodge or the Linn of Dee. People gathered to see her, and we are told that she gave them ‘her bow in response to respectful and demonstratively salutation of the doffed bonnet and the dropped curtsy.’

During the tenure of the McNab family, the Fife Arms Hotel gradually became the premier hotel in Braemar. It was visited by numerous members of the royal family and society from both the UK and overseas, with adverts carrying the statement, ‘By Special Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family.’

In 1897 Mr Livingston Macdonald and his wife, Margaret, took over the tenancy of the hotel and, by agreement with the Duke of Fife, the hotel was greatly enlarged and remodelled over the next nine years. Designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, the first phase included adding an additional floor, bay windows, the characteristic sash and case windows with multi-pane upper sections.

By the early twentieth century, visitor numbers had grown greatly with more coach services to the rail terminal in Ballater and, during the season, to rail terminals in Pitlochry and Dunkeld. Guests of the Fife Arms were offered special facilities for golf, tennis and salmon fishing.

The rebuilding works were completed in 1906 with a new 4-storey wing was added to the west side of the hotel. In 1907, the hotel was one of only three Scottish hotels included in The Times’ column ‘specifically reserved for Hotels having first-class accommodation for Motorists.’

The Fife Arms played its part in the civilian support for the First World War. While her husband was in the armed forces, the hotel was run by Margaret Macdonald. She received a special mention in the press of the four wounded Belgian soldiers whom she took into the hotel and nursed back to health.

In the post war period, the hotel handed over some of its leased land across the road for the building of the Braemar War Memorial. This was unveiled by the Princess Royal, Duchess of Fife in October 1921.

During the Second World War, the Fife Arms Hotel was commandeered by the War Office and housed several army units including the newly formed Commando Corps. In 1949 the hotel reopened under new management having been completely refurnished and modernised. Sadly, visitor numbers were much lower than expected meaning the hotel had to close, except for the bars, during the winter months.

The hotel experienced a prolonged period of turbulence with regular changes in ownership and management. The majority of guests were from coach parties and normally only stayed for one night. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the hotel was run down and in a poor state of repair.

In December 2014 the Fife Arms Hotel was purchased by Iwan and Manuela Wirth with the vision to recreate the glory and splendour of its Victorian days occupied with the standards of a modern luxury hotel. After a four-year restoration programme the hotel opened on St. Andrew’s Day in December 2018, to locals and villagers first, before being officially opened by the then Duke & Duchess of Rothesay (Prince Charles III and Camilla) on 11th January 2019.