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In 1860 in the Scottish port of Leith as a young boy sits in his father’s lap and listens to him tell stories of Elizabeth Stuart – The Winter Queen.

The boy is fascinated to hear that his long distant relative was royalty, how she almost inherited the English throne and how in the end she travelled to Europe, to a little known and intriguing place called Bohemia. How she became the Queen there and was beloved of the free thinking, adventure loving people before returning to Britain to live out her life, forever remembered as the Winter Queen, the Queen of Bohemia.

As the boy grew his fascination with the stories grew with him, he longed to visit this place, to meet the people, to live the life.

And so on his eighteenth birthday he waved goodbye to his father and struck out for Bohemia, for the Czech Republic, following in the footsteps of the Winter Queen. What he found was everything the stories had promised. It was unconventional, avant-garde, free thinking and artistic. The local beer flowed freely from giant copper tanks as they partied, sang and danced from dusk till dawn without a care in the world.

After a decade in Bohemia, on the advice of his father, he travelled from the Czech Republic to see the bierhalles in the hills of Bavaria.

Robert was astounded at the Munich Oktoberfest, awed at the atmosphere and quickly fell in love with the lifestyle, beer and schnapps that epitomised the huge parties, festivals and music. The spirit of the people and the incredible bier served in giant steins reminded him of the long hedonistic nights in Bohemia.

At the Oktoberfest of 1890 Robert, or Rabbie as the locals knew him, met an enigmatic Italian called Pompeo Molmenti who was visiting from Venice.

He regaled Robert with tales of a sparkling wine called Prosecco which came from a region near his home, how the bubbles danced on your tongue and made ladies eyes sparkle. This was more than enough to persuade young Rabbie to leave Munich and head south for the beautiful port of Venice.

Rabbie developed a love for the incredible Prosecco, the outrageous evenings which marked the Italian summer season and the masquerade balls.

The downside to the decadent nights was, as it always has been, the morning after. Luckily the passionate locals knew how to combat this using their incredible coffee. Soon Rabbie was taken on by a little Nona with her own cafe and she taught him everything she knew about coffee. The next few years passed in a blur of dancing, brewing & amazing local food until the summer of 1896.

When Rabbie saw her at the Grand Ball he knew his life had changed forever.

Her name was Amelie Dubois and she had come to visit Venice in the spring. She reminded him of the gypsy girls he had met in Bohemia and he fell in love with her so suddenly that without a second thought, Rabbie was following her back to Paris.

Instantly the free ideals of Paris resonated with him and so Rabbie stayed for years, working in the Moulin Rouge as a cocktail waiter alongside Amelie, his can-can dancing love and soon to be bride.

There was nothing else like the cabaret & show that epitomised the Moulin Rouge so it was with a heavy heart that Rabbie returned to Scotland with his infant son after the death of his beloved wife.

After years of late night debauchery in the underground scene of the Montmartre, a part of Rabbie was looking forward to something close to his heart.

He took his boy back to Auld Reekie where in 1903 he found work in the newly built and most splendid Scotsman Newspaper headquarters.

Rabbie worked hard and quickly developed a friendship with Charles Alfred Cooper the newspaper’s dynamic editor. Both men shared a love of malt whisky, hunting game, fresh seafood and of course that most British of drinks…tea!

At the age of 67 and retired now to a quiet life in the Highlands of Scotland, Rabbie was taken ill, possibly the broken heart from the loss of his beloved Amelie eventually took its toll.

He spent his last few days talking to his now grown up son, recounting tales of his life, the story of the Elizabeth Stuart and the things he had seen.