As Norman and his lady made the social rounds, the attractive pair were increasingly mentioned in the Scottish and British media, and in international dispatches. Norman made the news in August 1900 when he went to America to buy a pair of Clydesdales for his stables, drawing criticism from breeders in Scotland. Norman was an enthusiastic sportsman, shooting being a favorite pastime, but he loved his horses best, especially his prize-winning broad mare “Stormy.” Noëlle shared in all her husband’s sporting interests –– from riding and hunting to cricket and boating, which would one day prove handy.

Neither of the Rothes cared for the gossipy press attention they attracted. An International News Service report from about this time, referring to the earldom’s “financial embarrassment,” was an example of the intrusive media coverage they were subjected to. According to the piece, the Leslies’ debts “had only been wiped out since the marriage of the present earl to the daughter and heiress of the exceedingly wealthy Thomas Dyer-Edwardes.” Another similar article snidely played on the fact that Norman’s great grandfather had been poor and illiterate before marrying into the family:

Lord Rothes is very good looking, a fact which many people are disposed to ascribe to the circumstance that he has a strong strain of peasant blood in his veins. The earl’s great grandfather was a Devonshire peasant, one George Gwyther by name, who could neither read nor write, employed by the day in the garden of the 12th Earl of Rothes.

One widely circulated story –– claiming Norman was a “bootblack to royalty” ––amused the Rothes when they learned of it during a “motoring holiday” in 1901. The press had misunderstood an old feudal prerogative granted one of Norman’s ancestors. This was a hereditary privilege that gave the Leslies the right to remove the sovereign’s boots following a state ceremony at Falkland Palace, the traditional country seat of Scottish royalty, or after any other formal event occurring in the “Kingdom of Fife.”

When reporters asked the couple about the ancient rite, both stifled their laughter. The earl explained that the 12th century appellation was actually that of “Grand Bootjack to the Crown of Scotland,” not “bootblack.” The custom had seldom been enacted in modern times, he said, and was even then much modified. The last occasion the Leslie prerogative was observed was in 1878 when Queen Victoria was returning from inspecting the Tay Bridge in Fifeshire. Norman’s great aunt, the sitting countess, awaited Victoria’s train at a point near Coupar Fife on a specially built railway platform onto which the queen alighted. The countess greeted the queen, presented her with a simple pair of hand-sewn slippers, and Her Majesty was on her way again.

The Rothes' first child, Malcolm George, Viscount Leslie.

Portrait of Norman Rothes in 1904

Noëlle loved Norman, his family and its romantic past –– one that would become part of her own. It was with great pride then that she gave birth to a sturdy male heir on February 8, 1902. Christened Malcolm George, the tiny Lord Leslie brought domesticity to the Rothes’ hectic social life. Her first-born awakened in Noëlle a love of all youngsters, and it was at this time that her charitable works to help poor and sick children, their families, and others less fortunate, began.

The year was also important for the Rothes in an official capacity. Great Britain celebrated a new king and queen when Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned on August 9, and the Rothes participated in the coronation. Though decorum demanded a blasé attitude, seeing their names –– “Norman-Evelyn Earl of Rothes” and “Noëlle Countess of Rothes” –– entered into the Garter’s Roll for this momentous state occasion must have been a thrill for the young couple. While the petite and dainty Noëlle stood out as one of the most beautiful in the procession of peeresses paying homage to Their Majesties during the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Norman was an inspiring sight in his coronation robe, coronet and sword.  The cane chair in which the earl sat during the event is still in the possession of the Leslie family.

Back home, the Rothes resumed their social and civic lives. Noëlle was especially busy, proving that long before her husband inherited Leslie House she was enacting her role as chatelaine. Indeed, as baby Malcolm grew into a cotton-haired toddler, his enchanting mother looked after not only his needs but saw to the welfare of the children of her tenants, fellow parishioners, and other county families in Devonshire. Noëlle helped by donating her own money and services, and by arranging charity bazaars, dances, and suppers. A popular annual sale of clothing and linen at her church was one of the first fundraisers she organized.

The countess’ generosity only increased after she and her new family moved to Scotland in the summer of 1904, at last taking possession of Leslie House, Norman’s great uncle, the Hon. George Waldegrave Leslie, a Coupar County Councillor, having died at age 79.

The huge Rothes estate, with Leslie House its centerpiece, comprised three parishes (Leslie, Markinch and Kinglassie) in Fifeshire, and included over 30 farms and holdings with some 20,000 pounds in rentals. Noëlle would virtually adopt the sick and needy among her new tenants, but for the time being she applied her energy to breathing life and beauty back to her husband’s ancestral home.

Built by the Duke of Rothes in the time of Charles II, Leslie House, some four miles west of Glenrothes and 34 miles from Edinburgh, has had a fascinating, resilient history.

“Originally it formed an immense quadrangle,” as writer de Fontenoy described it in his July 31, 1904 column. “But three sides burned in 1763, and it is the fourth side that forms the present mansion, standing on the summit of a hill with terraced gardens sloping down to the River Levan.”

The remaining wing of Leslie House, revitalized in 1767, was situated between a meadow and a grove of beech trees, ordered planted by King James V when Fife was a royal seat. The old church in the village of Leslie also had a famous connection to the monarch –– a ballad he penned, “A Country Wedding,” paid tribute to the beauty of the chapel, calling it “Christ’s kirk on the green.”

The 10,000-acre estate, Leslie House, was built in the 17th century.

The property’s royal pedigree was matched by the manor house’s splendid interior treasures. As de Fontenoy related:

Among the family relics preserved at Leslie House are the dagger used by the Master of Rothes in assassinating Cardinal Bethune, and the magnificent sword of state carried by the Duke of Rothes at the Coronation of Charles II. There is a picture of John, Earl of Rothes, by Sir Joshua Reynolds and a wonderful portrait of Rembrandt by himself.

Despite its grandeur, the five-story, 30,000-square foot manor was in need of a makeover. Its amenities were far out of date and the whole place was in a severe state of neglect. Noëlle’s good taste –– and money –– saw to it that a “thorough renovation” was commissioned, the result being that the weather-beaten old palace became not only livable but extremely luxurious. The remodeling of interior and exterior alike reflected the most fashionable trends of the day and cost over 11,000 pounds. With 37 bedrooms and 20 other rooms, as well as 26 acres of lawn and woodland, the redecoration and landscape revision took two years to complete. Among the countess’ personal touches were the addition of a conservatory and an Italian garden.

Leslie House still stands today. Sadly, the old place is in danger of being altered considerably by a real estate development company that purchased it last year from the Church of Scotland, owners of the property since the 1950s. In May 2006 the new owners’ proposal to convert the historic manor into 17 luxury flats went before the Fife Council for debate. At present, Noëlle Rothes’ conservatory is intact and the rhododendrons she planted as part of the home’s original garden scheme are still growing on the estate.

Leslie House Today

According to her grandson, Noëlle “loved her home and loved the townsfolk of Leslie even more.” Newspaper accounts concur that both Norman and Noëlle took the citizenry of Leslie to their hearts.

As a correspondent for The Scotsman later wrote:

Lord and Lady Rothes did much to win the love and respect of the community of Leslie by the interest they showed in local affairs, their kindness to the poor and aged, and their generous regard for the young folks.

Noëlle, especially, took the children of Leslie under her wing. The Scotsman recorded that “not a Christmastide passed but the countess celebrated her birthday, Dec. 25, by treating all the children in the parish to an entertainment in Leslie Town Hall, and presenting each with a Christmas gift.”

In 1906, as Noëlle involved herself in local charities, Norman’s interest in business and politics won him an election to the British House of Lords as a Representative Peer for Scotland, a position he held for the next 17 years. Although Norman’s work often took him away from home and family, Noëlle wasn’t lonely.

While the earl conducted business in France, Egypt, India and the United States, her own fundraising activities kept her busy. The couple was so involved in various undertakings during their first three years in Leslie that they didn’t participate in the London season, which caused some comment. As The Bystander noted in 1907, Noëlle was

so devoted to her Scottish home, Leslie House, that neither she nor Lord Rothes are often to be seen in London or anywhere else the world of amusement foregathers.

One of the first projects the countess took up after becoming mistress of Leslie House was that of the Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, planned for the education of children of Scottish soldiers and sailors, and as a memorial to the late queen. In this campaign Noëlle worked closely with Constance, Countess De La Warr, one of the more prominent society matrons involved in the suffrage movement, and the Marchoiness Tullibardine, an administrator of the fund.

According to Dunblane civic records, raising money for the Queen Victoria School became

a national effort that captivated the imagination of the Scottish public. For example every serviceman donated a day’s pay, and an appeal for contributions from the Scottish workforces received a generous response.

Among the ambitious entertainments Noëlle helped arrange for the benefit of the school was a series of themed balls held in the Assembly Rooms and Music Hall in Edinburgh in January 1906. One of these, called the “Jewel Ball,” in which the patronesses and lady guests were all attired as precious stones, received a lot of press coverage. This owed mainly to the extravagance of the decorations, which were designed to replicate a Moorish palace, complete with “porticos, pillared halls, gardens, fountains and mosaic pavements.”

For the Jewel Ball the countess and other women blossomed forth in bright-colored frocks and heirloom jewelry, and the men sported a hodge-podge of military uniforms, period hunting costumes and traditional Highland garb. In all, more than 600 guests attended the event.

Noëlle also gave her time to fundraising for a social club for young girls employed in Falkland factories, a clinic in the parish of Kinglassie, and for the previously mentioned Royal Caledonian Schools and Scottish Corporation. She had a hand, too, in planning parties for the 2nd Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry

In addition to her philanthropies, Noëlle was active politically. A staunch Tory, she was chairman of the Markinch Women’s Unionist Association (from about 1907), and she later chaired the Leslie Women’s Unionist Association. Though forceful in her views, Noëlle was not a public speaker and, apart from serving as mistress of ceremonies, she seldom addressed key issues at gatherings. Notable exceptions were her opposition to Home Rule, her support of a blistering anti-Socialist editorial published by a member of the Markinch group, and her praise of a controversial speech delivered by a family friend, Lady Ninian Crichton-Stuart. In it, Crichton- Stuart

criticized the Government severely for its policy of destroying the Constitution in the name of reform, robbing the Church and pushing through measures in the most disgraceful manner.

Despite her interest in national causes, Noëlle never neglected local responsibilities, hosting not only her Christmas parties in Leslie village, but supervising an annual sale of handicrafts at Leslie Parish Church in aid of needy families; this she started in early 1907.

Noëlle with her son Malcolm, age 5, in 1907

Noëlle’s dedication to charity work didn’t prevent her enjoyment of the glamour of her privileged position. After Leslie House’s refurbishment was completed, and the Rothes had settled into their new lives, the couple resumed attending the lavish banquets and court levees essential to Edwardian high life. With the encroachment of winter in 1907, Noëlle and Norman joined the social exodus to the south, spending the season in Egypt with a party of friends that included the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, with whom they cruised the Nile for the first time.

Balls, opera, weekend house parties, the Cowes Regatta, Raneleigh –– all were part of the Rothes’ rarefied world, but perhaps no event on the social calendar of the period was more picturesque than a village wedding. Noëlle and Norman were invited to many of these affairs over the years but the 1908 Cairns-Scott marriage may have been the most beautiful and distinguished.

Taking place in an ancient chapel on the grounds of Dalkeith Palace, the ancestral seat of the earls of Cairns, long time Leslie friends, the ceremony united the Hon. Douglas Cairns to Lady Constance Scott, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, friends of the Villiers, Noëlle’s mother’s family. The dignified but simple backdrop of chrysanthemums and palms, candelabra and stained glass rivaled the loveliness of the bucolic surroundings and clear January day. Joining royalty, politicians and other prominent guests, Noëlle and Norman went to the reception in the castle afterward. There the bride collected her gifts, among them an “eight-day watch in a silver case” from the Rothes.

Socially, the year was a busy one for the couple, culminating on Sept. 28, 1908 with Edward VII’s formal opening of the Queen Victoria School in Dunblane. The earl and countess were honored guests at the ceremony and were in the receiving line for the king on his arrival. Remaining a vital institution today, the Queen Victoria School still serves the children of members of the British Armed Forces, and is particularly known for its award-winning pipe band.

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