way. It was described as 'an American-style election campaign'. In the same year, Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden also visited the castle. Sir Gavin started the Lock Tay Steamboat Company, to enable his tenants to travel more easily to the nearest railway station, on a vessel known as the Queen of the Lake. Later, the enterprise was transformed into a popular attraction, operating pleasure cruises between Kenmore and Killin. Eventually, the ship was taken over by British Railways. In 1881, the castle had another royal visitor, being Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. Later in 1884, King Oscar II of Sweden visited and in the following year, the Prince Frederick of Hanover visited the castle. In 1888, Sir Gavin was awarded the Medal of the Royal Humane Society, for saving the life of a servant, whilst at the imminent risk to his own life. The servant, by the name of McLean, had fallen out of a boat and into the River Tay. At the time, the river was flooded and McLean was caught in a deep whirlpool, with eddies and rocks creating even more difficulties. Sir Gavin, who was out shooting at the time, stripped off his gunbelt and dived into the river to rescue him. The medal he earned for this, along with five more of his medals, were sold at auction in 2009 for £2,700. Sir Gavin was also awarded the Swedish Order of the Seraphim, conferred upon him by King Oscar, for his hospitality to the then Prince Gustavus Adolphus, when he came to the UK to marry Princess Margaret of Connaught in 1905. When he inherited his titles in 1871, his estate was still nearly half a million acres in size. It contained 'The Heart of Scotland', a thick wood of fir trees in the shape of a heart. Unfortunately, throughout Sir Gavin's tenure at Taymouth, he managed to lose most of this land. His worsening financial problems, were said to be due to an extravagant lifestyle, "bad management and his gambling addiction". His mountainous debts finally forced him to put the castle and its remaining 60,000 acres up for sale in 1920. Included in the sale were a number of farms, hotels, private houses and shooting and fishing rights. The sale was achieved in 1921, when the castle was sold for £20,000 to a syndicate, who intended to turn the estate into a hotel complex.