{{Short description|Hunting lodge on Balmoral Castle, Scotland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} thumb|right|Inchnabobart and the Craig of Inchnabobart in 2019 thumb|right|Inchnabobart in 2008 '''Inchnabobart''' is a hunting lodge on the Balmoral Castle estate in the parish of Glenmuick, Tullich and Glengairn in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located to the west of the River Muick.
The site was recorded as part of the Listed Building Recording Programme (LBRP) for 2001 to 2002.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Inchnabobart |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/203312/balmoral-estates-inchnabobart |access-date=19 February 2025 |work=Canmore |publisher=Historic Environment Scotland }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |last=Slack |first=Megan |date=15 August 2023 |title=King Charles's secluded hunting lodge epitomizes a traditional Scottish hideaway |url=https://www.homesandgardens.com/celebrity-style/king-charles-inchnabobart-home |access-date=19 February 2025 |work=Homes and Gardens |archive-date=11 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211010220/https://www.homesandgardens.com/celebrity-style/king-charles-inchnabobart-home |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Description == The building was once a farmhouse, but has been converted to resemble a traditional Scottish hunting lodge.<ref name="Smith00" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert |title=The Royal Glens |date=1990 |publisher=Hyperion Books |isbn=978-0-85976-316-5 |publication-place=Edinburgh |page=12 }}</ref> The main structure is a small two-storey building with a stone facade, a cottage kitchen, and a fireplace.<ref name=":1" /> It has a separate outhouse.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
The farm at Inchnabobart is the highest cultivated land in the glen.<ref name="Smith00">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert |title=A Queen's Country |date=2000 |publisher=John Donald Publishers |isbn=978-0-85976-533-6 |page=23, 45 }}</ref> The site is visited by hedgehogs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nethersole-Thompson |first=Desmond |url=https://archive.org/details/cairngormstheirn0000neth/page/162/mode/2up?q=inchnabobart |title=The Cairngorms : their natural history and scenery |date=1981 |publisher=Melven Press |isbn=0906664128 |page=162 }}</ref>
== History == Adam Watson listed the name 'Inchnabobart' as "river meadow of the cow enclosures" in his ''The Place Names of Upper Deeside''.<ref name="Watson14">{{cite book |last=Watson |first=Adam |title=The Place Names of Upper Deeside |date=2014 |publisher=Paragon Publishing |isbn=978-1-80499-156-5 |page=94 }}</ref> The Inchnabobart ford was once a major crossing of the River Muick.<ref name="Smith00" /> Drovers would ford through the Muick at Inchnabobart heading over the Capel Mounth.<ref name="e690">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert |title=Land of the Lost |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-85976-477-3 |page= |publisher=John Donald }}</ref>
A footbridge crossing the Muick was demolished in 1863 and has never been rebuilt.<ref name="Smith00" /> Local historian Robert Smith has suggested that Queen Victoria had wished to discourage members of the public from using the bridge as a "back door" into the Balmoral estate.<ref name="Smith00" />
=== Royal use === On 26 September 1903 ''Court Circular'' reported that Edward VII and George, Prince of Wales had started their deer drive at the lodge before proceeding along the River Muick.<ref>{{cite news |title=Court Circular |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS151711034/TTDA? |access-date=19 February 2025 |work=The Times |issue=37196 |date= |page=9 }}</ref>
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh renovated the Inchnabobart and Glas-allt-Shiel lodges.<ref name="Brandreth21">{{cite book |author=Gyles Brandreth |title=Philip |publisher=Coronet |date=27 April 2021 |isbn=978-1-4447-6960-9 |page=438 }}</ref> According to Smith, Prince Charles was responsible for converting Inchnabobart for use as a shiel.<ref name="Smith00" />
In Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex's memoir, ''Spare'', he recalls a barbecue with his father, grandparents, and great-grandmother at Inchnabobart in the summer of 2001 when he was still a teenager.<ref name="Spare">{{cite book |author=Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex |title=Spare (memoir) |publisher=Penguin Group |date=2024 |isbn=978-1-78222-191-3 |page=77-79 }}</ref> Harry recalled "The warm kitchen! The old fireplace! I fell onto the fender, with its worn red cushion, and inhaled the smell of that huge pyramid of silver birch firewood stacked beside it. If there's a smell more intoxicating or inviting than silver birch, I don't know what it could be."<ref name="Spare" /> Prince Philip barbecued fillets of venison and Cumberland sausages, while Queen Elizabeth whisked salad dressing and lit candles on the long table.<ref name="Spare" /> Harry drank a gin and tonic with his 101-year-old great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and taught her how to say "booyakasha", the catchphrase of Ali G.<ref name="Spare" />
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Coord|56.9741|N|3.1365|W|display=title|type:landmark_region:GB|format=dms}}
Category:Houses in Aberdeenshire Category:British royal family Category:Hunting lodges in Scotland