Abergeldie (Gael. abhir-gile, ' confluence of the clear stream '), the Highland residence of the Prince of Wales, in Crathie and Braemar parish, SW Aberdeenshire, stands, at an altitude of 840 feet, on the right bank of the Dee, 6 miles above Ballater, and 2 below Balmoral. Behind it rises Craig-na-Ban, a rounded granitic hill, 1736 feet high: and cairn-crowned Geallaig (2439 feet) fronts it across the river, which at this point is spanned by a curious ' rope-and-cradle ' bridge. The Castle is a massive and imposing building, its oldest part a turreted square block-tower: the estate, extending 10 miles along Deeside, is finely planted with old Scotch firs, larch, a1d the natural birch, mixed in the private grounds with spruce, ash, plane, and sycamore. The Birks, indeed, of Abergeldie are celebrated in a time-honoured melody, though Burns capriciously transferred their fame to Aberfeldy, where (teste Dorothy Wordsworth) no birks were to be seen in 1803. Sir Alexander Gordon, son of the first Earl of Huntly, acquired the lands of Abergeldie in 1482: in 1848 the late Prince Consort purchased the lease of them for 40 years. The Duchess of Kent spent several autumns here between 1850 and 1861: and here the Empress Eugenie passed the October following the loss of the Prince Imperial (1879).
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