Dubbed The Riviera of the Highlands when it first opened, Gleneagles’ magnetism for merriment was apparent from the start.
It was a place where the great and the good gathered, where silk trains trailed across parquet floors, and crystal glasses clinked in endless toasts to life’s pleasures. Over the past century, the hotel’s social calendar has been studded with legendary parties which have blended high society, music, fine dining and unfettered revelry.
White Tie Beginnings: 1920s
The glamour began on 7th June 1924, when Gleneagles hosted its opening ball – a white-tie affair that set the tone for the decades of decadence to come. Henry Hall, then a 26-year-old bandleader, was hired to lead the evening’s orchestra, composing a song called Glen of Eagles especially for the soirée. The night unfolded with drinks in The American Bar, dinner in The Strathearn (the hotel’s only dining room at the time), and then dancing in The Ballroom. It was Hall who contacted the BBC to suggest the evening was played to the nation, and so Gleneagles became the subject of the first ever broadcast outside of London.
Post-War Refinement: 1950s
After the lean years of war, Gleneagles rediscovered its sparkle. Henry Hall was still a fixture, his band closing each night with I’ll See You in My Dreams, a tune that left couples clinging to the last moments of the evening’s excitement. The glamorous crowd was back – draped in fur and jewels, luxuriating in frivolity once more, kilts swirling in time with the music. The force of nightly spirited reels was so vigorous it was said that sometimes the mirrors on the walls fell from their hangings.
