A transgender barrister who spent millions restoring a Scottish castle has announced she is selling up.
Samantha Kane said the rural community is “not ready” to accept a transgender owner of Carbisdale Castle, Sutherland and said her main concern is to see it “preserved and to see it respected”.
The 64-year-old, who is believed to be the only person in the UK to have changed gender three times, bought the 117-year-old property in 2022.
However, Kane has now conceded that it is time to sell the 19-bedroom, 29-acre castle, complete with its own loch, and it has been listed with a guide price of £5million.
Lady Samantha Kane is selling the castle
WikiCommons
She told MailOnline: “It has been a labour of love mostly. But when people sit in their bedrooms writing on social media they have to realise the effect that has on some people. I really have been quite hurt by comments on my gender identity, so now I think it just needs someone, for a better word, ‘normal’ to take over.
“It is such a special place but I did suffer some prejudice and I think probably the Highlands is not ready for a transgender owner of the castle. It needs someone else to protect its future.
“But I came here to a near ruined castle and have restored it to its former glory, so I’ve done the job I said I was going to do. It’s really such an important landmark and my main concern is to see it preserved and to see it respected.”
However, she added there were “a lot of great people in the community” stressing the “actions of one or two people should not reflect the whole community.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The castle has 19 bedrooms
WikiCommons
She continued: “Unfortunately if you have one or two very active and very vocal people trying to make it all personal…and comments on social media calling me a man and this and that, it really hurt me and I can do without that.
“It is a sad situation. But really for me, I think it should be about whatever helps the castle, it shouldn’t be what helps me personally.
“In the interests of the castle, I think it will be best served with someone else at the helm.
“As a barrister, I’ve been missing the courts, and need to get back to my clients in London, after ensuring Carbisdale Castle is passed on to an appropriate custodian, who shares my vision of this most iconic and atmospheric piece of Scottish history.”
Carbisdale Castle was originally built for Mary Caroline, the Duchess of Sutherland. At the time she was embroiled in a bitter feud with her in-laws, which led to it being nicknamed the “Castle of Spite”.
The Duchess picked a hillside plot close to, and visible from, her in-laws’ Sutherland Estate.
The castle’s clock tower was built with only three faces, with the side facing the estate left blank because the duchess did not want to give her former in-laws the time of day.