Flora Mary Crichton who died 30 December, 2025, aged 91, was for three decades the chatelaine of Traquair, the Jacobite stronghold and Scotland’s oldest inhabited house. With her first husband, she opened Traquair to the public, revived its 300-year-old brewery and created the largest hedged maze in Scotland.
Traquair is the family seat of her first husband, Peter Maxwell Stuart, 20th Laird of Traquair, and the family have lived there uninterruptedly since the 15th century.
She was born Flora Mary Carr-Saunders, 2 March, 1934, daughter of Sir Alexander Morris Carr-Saunders, KBE (1886-1966), the biologist, sociologist, academic, and academic administrator. He was Director of the London School of Economics from 1937 to 1957, by his wife the former Teresa Marie Molyneux-Seel (1895-1989); and she married firstly, 1 September, 1956, Capt Peter D'Arcy Joseph Constable-Maxwell-Stuart of Traquair, 20th feudal Baron of Traquair (1922-1990), son of Francis Joseph Maxwell-Stuart of Traquair, 19th of Traquair (1886-1962), and his wife the former Dorothy Mary Hartley (who died in 1975); and married 2ndly, in 1999, (Anthony) Robin Crichton (born Bournemouth, May, 1940), son of Robert Crichton and his wife the former Edith Caroline Pate (1903-1994).
From her first marriage she leaves a daughter, Catherine Margaret Mary Maxwell-Stuart of Traquair, 21st feudal Baroness of Traquair (born 16 November, 1964).
This patrician Scottish Catholic dynasty descends from the Scottish King James III’s half-uncle, the Earl of Buchan. In 1491, the Peeblesshire land passed to his son James Stuart, who became 1st Laird of Traquair.
As the family prospered – today’s website boasts visits from 27 Scottish monarchs – the three-storey tower on the River Tweed became an elegant four-storey country mansion, staunchly associated with the Jacobite cause. It is said that the Bear Gates of Traquair have been locked since 1745, when the 11th Laird wished Bonnie Prince Charlie a safe journey, and declared that the gates would not be opened until a Stuart sat on the throne.
The Stuart inheritance, which included an earldom created in 1633, passed through the male line until 1875, when the unmarried Lady Louisa Stuart died. Traquair was then acquired by her cousin Henry Constable Maxwell, who adopted the Maxwell Stuart surname. In 1942, it was inherited by Peter’s father Francis, who on his death in 1962 passed it on to Peter.
The Traquair estate consists of about 4,000 acres, including farms, forestry and a stretch of the River Tweed. Peter and Flora re-opened the house to the public in 1963, with a shop and tearoom. It was the early years of Scotland’s private houses being opened to the public, but with Traquair’s connections to Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie, visitor numbers increased dramatically.
On her husband's death in 1990 their daughter Catherine, who was in her mid-twenties, and able to step into the breach. Together Flora and Catherine ran the business until Flora created the Traquair House Charitable Trust, which is overseen to this day by Catherine and her husband Mark Muller, KC.
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