Super Caley still terrific, prospects looking glorious
Hotel's star-studded history set to continue with £35 million investment
The most famous horse in the world has been led up its grand staircase, and the most famous “hoofer” in the world has danced down it. It arrived in Victorian Edinburgh with the railway, and it’s been a home from home for the jet-set for decades.
It is, of course, the Caledonian Hotel, the Caley to everyone in Scotland’s Capital. The Grand Dame of Edinburgh’s west end has been back in the news this week with the announcement of a substantial investment in its future. It’s been a Waldorf Astoria in recent years, now it’s about to become part of the upmarket Curio Collection by Hilton.
The hotel has had its fair share of rich and famous guests. The late Queen Elizabeth II was a visitor, as was US President Barack Obama. Edinburgh’s most famous acting son, Sir Sean Connery, was something of a regular, and other guests from showbiz included Sir Lawrence Olivier, Judy Garland, and Marlon Brando.
All checked-in confident in the luxury, service and discretion assured. As fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg said of grand hotels: “When you get into a hotel room, you lock the door and you know there is a secrecy, there is luxury, there is fantasy. There is comfort. There is reassurance.”
Earlier this week, a £35 million investment and rebrand by its relatively new owners was announced which will secure the hotel’s legendary luxury status. The move comes less than a year after the 120-year-old hotel was bought by private equity firm Henderson Park and its in-house hospitality management company Klarent Hospitality in an £85m deal, in July last year.
The plans will extend the hotel, expanding its capacity from 241 bedrooms to over 300 rooms by early 2026. The property will also be rebranded to a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel in a move that would provide an opportunity for the landmark hotel “to further elevate its heritage and position".
Christophe Kuhbier, managing director at Henderson Park, commented: “Our continued investment in The Caledonian is testament to our stewardship of this iconic hotel, which has been a bastion of Edinburgh hospitality for over a century. We look forward to working with Hilton and Klarent, our specialist hospitality operator and asset manager, to unlock The Caledonian’s full value potential on behalf of our investors and ensure it continues to enchant guests for many years to come.”
The new bedroom and suite concepts are inspired by the crests of the historic once Capital city of Stirling and the Pictish capital Inverness – along with Scotland’s Capital.
The great railway rivals
The V-shaped Caledonian Hotel was constructed from 1899 to 1908 and was originally owned by the Caledonian Railway Company. It opened in 1903 along with the now defunct Princes Street Station, just a year after the North British Hotel, owned by North British Railway Company, at the other end of Princes Street at the Waverley Station. This equally grand and celebrated rival is known nowadays, of course, as the Balmoral.
At that time, the hotel and station could be entered through one of The Caley’s three main entrance arches, with rail passengers to the right and hotel guests to the left. These A listed gates can still be seen at the entry to the hotel’s car park.
Princes Street Station has long gone, closed when the railways were nationalised in the mid-1960s, but at its peak it was handling more than 250 trains a day through its seven platforms. Clues and remnants of the heyday of rail remain, and especially within Peacock Alley, the Caley’s luxurious lounge which was once a key part of the station grounds.
In this space, the original station clock - made by the famous George Street jewellers Hamilton & Inches - sits fixed onto the red Locharbriggs sandstone which was once the exterior wall. Alongside it, you can see the Scottish unicorn-based crest of the Caledonian Railway Company. The clock survived a fire in 1890, and today - in a similar tradition to its Balmoral counterpart - it is still set to run five minutes fast to help passengers catch their trains.
Rolling out the red carpet
But let’s return to the hotel’s star-studded guest book. The Caledonian has seen a roll-call of Hollywood superstars come through its doors.
Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn have stayed at The Caley, as has legendary dancer, actor and director Gene Kelly, who couldn’t resist cutting a couple of moves on the marble staircase. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong has stayed, and iconic crooner Bing Crosby was also a guest. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor enjoyed a relaxing break from the intensive filming schedule for Franco Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew” in Rome in 1967, while comedy legends Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin also brought smiles to the city during sojourns.
In more recent times, Arnold Schwarzenneger stayed for a black tie “An Audience with…” event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in 2016. A bike ride was planned as part of his stay, and the internationally famous bodybuilder, actor and politician famously, cheerfully and apparently obliviously cycled the wrong way – against the traffic – on Lothian Road.
Needless to say, few were prepared to play chicken with The Terminator, and even a bus took evasive action. He recorded his bike ride on social media, and said: “We’re in Edinburgh, Scotland, riding our bike early in the morning. As you can see, there’s all kinds of activities. Look at this beautiful view. Man, look at the castle, everything in the background. Wow, I love biking here in Edinburgh.”
Check out the story on YouTube and enjoy. Hopefully he’ll be back…
A real life fairytale
Just as famously, the celebrated and much photographed grand staircase at the heart of the building was once climbed by its most unusual celebrity guest. King of the Cowboys Roy Rogers and his actress wife Dale Evans were accompanied by their Golden Palomino stallion Trigger, their co-star in their iconic TV series and at that time the most famous horse on earth. The picture flashed around the world.
But their visit provided an even more heart-warming story. The couple wed after previous marriages on both sides. Their relationship was long and happy, but touched by tragedy. Their daughter Robin Elizabeth died of complications of Downs Syndrome shortly before her second birthday, inspiring her mother to write what would become a bestseller Angel Unaware. Dale Evans was to prove influential in changing public perceptions of children with developmental disabilities. The couple loved children, and everywhere they travelled visited local orphanages.
In Edinburgh, they visited the Church of Scotland-run Dunforth Children’s Home in Newhaven. Here they encountered 13-year-old Marion Fleming, who sang “Won’t You Buy My Pretty Flowers” to the superstar couple. They were impressed enough to invite the youngster to their wild west show, after taking her to lunch at the Caledonian Hotel.
Later they invited her to their ranch in California, and she eventually settled there as their daughter, where she grew up as one of a number of biological, fostered and adopted children in the large and happy family. She married, becoming Marion “Mimi” Swift.
Recounting events, she later told the BBC: "What are the chances that they would want me to be part of that family?
"I was not a cute little 5 or 6 year old, I was 13. I figured it wasn't going to happen...
"I think it encourages people to think that maybe there's something more for them. There's a bright spot in their life down the road, they just haven’t reached it. Because I'm just a regular gal that hung out and they ended up taking me home with them. So there's always hope."
Mimi died, aged 81, three years ago, after a happy life, a fitting end to a fairytale in which the magical Caley played its part.