26th December 2001

JK Rowling marries at Killechassie House

Harry Potter author JK Rowling married Scottish doctor Neil Murray at their home, Killechassie House, on boxing day 2001.

Small ceremony

On 30 December 2001, The Guardian wrote that “Only 15 relatives and close friends are reported to have attended the ceremony which was arranged in the strictest secrecy. The bride wore a cream outfit, while her eight-year-old daughter Jessica by her first husband was one of three bridesmaids.” Rowling and Murray “had already abandoned a plan to wed while on holiday in the Galapagos Islands earlier this year after news of that impending ceremony was leaked to the press.”

Killechassie House

Rowling had bought Killechassie House the previous month. Built on the banks of the Tay, in grounds of 12 acres, it was constructed in 1865 to replace an earlier building. The Telegraph of 22 November 2001 noted that “In the 17th century the Rev Robert Stewart, the minister of Killin, bought each of his sons an estate north of the Tay, giving Killiechassie to the eldest. Locals say that Bonnie Prince Charlie sheltered under a tree on the estate during his retreat north to Inverness in 1746, and Robert Burns took walks nearby.”

JK Rowling wrote many scenes for the Harry Potter books in Scotland, and finished the final book of the series at Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel in 2007.