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Branding Glenlivet

by hidden europe

Picture above: The Glenlivet distillery enjoys a fine setting in the Moray hills (photo © Martin Molcan / dreamstime.com).

Summary

Rarely has a beverage gained such a boost from a royal namecheck as when George IV arrived in Scotland and requested a glass of Glenlivet. At the time, the distillery at Glenlivet was an 'under-the-radar' affair operating outwith the law.

This summer marks the 200th anniversary of George IV’s visit to Scotland. The portly Hanoverian monarch sailed north from the Thames and arrived in the Firth of Forth on Wednesday 14 August 1822. The whole royal visit, the first by a reigning British monarch for 150 years, was a piece of overblown pageantry orchestrated by Sir Walter Scott who had King George kitted out in full Highland dress. Cartoonists had a field day and there were parodies aplenty about the monarch’s attire and his Jacobite pretensions.

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