Brown risked life for Her Majesty

THE no-nonsense ghillie was prepared to lay down his life for Victoria.

And he proved his valour on more than one occasion.

In 1872 a disturbed young man with a revolver lay in wait for the Queen while she was out riding.

Brown spotted the threat, wrestling him to the ground, and disarmed the would-be assassin.

In reward Victoria granted him a gold medal with an annuity of £25.

In her diary she credited Brown’s “great presence of mind and quickness” for grabbing the man by the throat and forcing him to drop the pistol.

“Brown alone saw him spring round and suspected him,” Victoria would later record.

Afterwards she retreated to the tiny cottage called Glassalt Shiel, hidden in the snow-covered hills around Loch Muick, with Brown as her companion.