On Friday 25th May 1984, Clanranald and Lady Clanranald and their family were at the ancient seat of the Clan Ranald, Castle Tioram, in Loch Moidart, to receive clansmen and guests, many of whom were on their way to attend the ceremony at Armadale the following day. A marquee had been pitched on Eilean Tioram, the little island on which the stronghold is situated and the Chief’s banner waved vigorously in the wind from a pole erected for the occasion. The visiting clansfolk and guests were entertained with food and drink as in days of yore and by sweet music from the “faery pipes” of Clanranald, played by Archie Maclntyre, descendant of the hereditary pipers to Clanranald. The company were invited to enter the Castle, the ramparts of which had been decorated with pennants, where a service was conducted by the Rev. H. McShane, after which the gathering was addressed by Clanranald and Dr Alastair MacLean, South Uist, author of the the book “A MacDonald for the Prince,” a biography of Neil MacEachan, father of the French Napoleonic Marshal Jacques Etienne MacDonald, Duke of Tarentum. Clanranald, in welcoming the company, expressed the hope that Castle Tioram would evetually be transferred to a trust which would preserve it for the Clan for all time. N.H.M. |