Exhibition goes interactive at Bowhill House

Called Love and Respect in the Victorian Age, the exhibition, on at Bowhill House, showcases around 70 items including silver, porcelain, jewellery, books and manuscripts, paintings and miniatures.

While taking in the trinkets on display, visitors can listen to music written for Charlotte-Anne, the wife of Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, the fifth duke of Buccleuch.

A new touchscreen computer allows visitors to learn more about the tunes dedicated to Charlotte-Anne, plus other pieces from the 1830 and 1840s that she would have been familiar with.

Helen Currie, house manager at Bowhill, said: “The new musical elements installed within the exhibition really help to tell the story of the duke and Charlotte-Anne.

“We’ve seen lots of interest in Charlotte-Anne since Diana Rigg’s portrayal of her in the second series of ITV’s Victoria, and the addition of the music offers a unique insight into her life at Bowhill.”

Highlights of the exhibition include the Mayflower tiara – a diamond, gold and silver tiara made in the 1870s and since worn by many of the family’s brides on their wedding days. The antique headpiece can be disassembled to form nine brooches.

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The family’s links with Queen Victoria can also be seen through some of the artefacts including an old visitors’ book with her and Prince Albert’s signatures in 1842, plus letters from the queen.

A gold bracelet contains Victoria’s portrait and is engraved with an affectionate message reaffirming the closeness of those ties.

The exhibition is open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from noon to 3pm.

For more information on Bowhill, go online and visit www.bowhillhouse.co.uk or search @BowhillHouse on Facebook or @bowhillhouse on Instagram.