Forget Not

Roddy Martine remembers Iona, Duchess of Argyll, who died on 22 February 2024.

IONA, Duchess of Argyll was the 16th Grand Master of the Keepers of the Quaich and the first woman to occupy this role, which she undertook with enormous flair and vitality. Immensely elegant, always stylish, Duchess Iona brought a genuine and instinctive sophistication to our Society.

It was Scotland’s wedding of the year when, in 1964, the only daughter of Sir Ivar Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet, Chief of Clan Colquhoun, married the eldest son and heir of the Chief of Clan Campbell at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. The ancestral homes of bride and groom, Rossdhu House at Luss on Loch Lomond and the magnificent Inveraray Castle on Loch Fyne, were 30 miles across country from each other and, according to The New York Times, the 19-year-old Iona Colquhoun and the 27-year-old Ian Campbell, Marquess of Lorne were childhood sweethearts.

Having served as a Captain with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and before inheriting Inverary Castle and the Argyll dukedom in 1973, Ian had launched Argyll Whisky, his own brand, and some years later was invited to join the board of Campbell Distillers Ltd, a subsidiary company of Pernod Ricard, Europe’s largest wines and spirits company. It was therefore natural he should be invited to become a Founder Patron of the Keepers of the Quaich, and subsequently 9th Grand Master 1997/1998.

In 2002, the year after her husband’s premature death, the Duchess Iona graciously agreed to follow in his footsteps and become a Patron. Four years later she became the Society’s first female Grand Master 2006/2007.

In what is beginning to look like an Argyll family tradition, their son Torquhil, 13th Duke of Argyll, formerly Commercial Manager for Chivas Brothers’ interests in Australia and Asia Pacific, and subsequently Global Ambassador for Royal Salute, joined the Patrons in 2008. In 2020, he too became the Society’s Grand Master, the only Keeper in the history of the Society to be Master, Patron and Grand Master.

Educated at Butterstone School, near Perth and Lawnside School, Great Malvern, Iona Colquhoun was brought up to enjoy country pursuits in the glorious hills forming the shoreline of Loch Lomond, one of Scotland’s most celebrated beauty spots. A superb rifle shot competing at an international level, it always amused her when those who did not know her reacted to her being a keen deer stalker (which she wrote about so sensitively in the Autumn 1995 issue of The Keeper magazine).

“When you climb towards the high tops, you enter a world unchanged for hundreds of years,” she observed. “The hills are steep, the gales are strong, the hail is fierce, the smell of the peat hags, the wet golden eagle, and above all, the roaring of the stag.

“Today the romance of the great deer forests still lives on with the names of Morvern, Blackmount, Invercauld, Atholl, Ben Loyal, the list is as long as it is glorious and we, as stalkers, are given the enviable freedom to roam the Scottish hills, unknown anywhere on the Continent.”

Although matchless at needlework and a competent cook, Her Grace was also an enthusiastic member of Dunoon Sub Aqua Club. Being a keen scuba diver is not necessarily a skill associated with being a Duchess.

“I was brought up in a generation where girls were not expected to know how to shoot,” she recalled with a laugh. “I suppose I must have been determined to prove myself.”

Her friends would agree that she most certainly did prove herself with her many pursuits, not least the restoration of Inveraray Castle after a disastrous fire in 1975 which all but destroyed the central towers. The entire building needed to be re-lined, re-plastered and re-painted in the authentic colours of the past. Working with her husband, it became a personal triumph. Inveraray Castle is today ranked as one of Scotland’s best loved visitor attractions.

For 17 years, she served as Her Majesty’s Deputy Lieutenant for Argyll and Bute. In 2003, she became President of the Royal Caledonian Ball held at Grosvenor House in London and which annually raises substantial sums for Scottish charities. Under her guidance, with her daughter Lady Louise as Chairman, this colourful gathering was to re-emerge as one of the most in-demand and glamorous events of the London season.

Above all, the Duchess loved to travel and often reflected that she had seen more than half the world including the USA, Cuba, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, Turkey, Asia, and France where she and her husband had established a close friendship with the Ricard dynasty. She will be greatly missed for her infectious enthusiasm, kindness and elfin beauty.

The Society sends deepest sympathy to her son and daughter-in-law the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, her daughter Lady Louise Burrell, and her grandchildren, the Marquess of Lorne, Lord Rory Campbell, Lady Charlotte Campbell, Teale Burrell and Albert Burrell.

In the words of the Clan Campbell of Argyll motto, ‘Forget Not’. RIP Your Grace and on behalf of the Keepers of the Quaich, thank you.

This article first appeared in the summer 2024 issue of The Keeper