The casket containing the remains of the Duke of Fife was yesterday deposited in the vault specially constructed for its reception within the private chapel at New Mar Lodge, Braemar, his Grace's Highland residence.

The date of the removal of the remains from Windsor to their last resting place was kept strictly private until two or three days ago, it being the express wish of the Princess Royal that the interment should be carried out without any public display whatever.

Heavy rain showers had fallen on Deeside in the early morning, and when the train reached Ballater shortly after ten o'clock the atmosphere was depressingly gloomy, while the distant hills to the West were thickly enveloped in mist, adding a further melancholy note to the circumstances attending the sad home-bringing of the departed Chief of the Duffs.

Travelling in the special saloon from London to Ballater were Sir Maurice Abbot Anderson and Lady Anderson and Dr Essery, while awaiting the arrival of the train at Ballater were Mr W[illia]m Mackintosh, factor and commissioner on the Mar estates; Mr C. H. Taylor, private secretary to the late Duke; and eight members of the Duff Highlanders, specially selected to transfer the casket from the train to a motor hearse which was in waiting to convey the remains over the 18 odd miles to New Mar Lodge.

Many hundreds of residents and visitors to the district had assembled in the Station Square and reverently observed the Highlanders transfer the massive polished oak coffin from the saloon to the hearse.

The cortege covered the route to Braemar at the slow speed of about 12 miles an hour, and along the way there were obvious manifestations of respect shown, for the passing of one who had been a notable personality on Upper Deeside for so many years.

Business was suspended, flags were flying at half-mast, and the general atmosphere of solemnity which pervaded the scene indicated at once the feeling of respect which all classes entertained for the departed nobleman and his bereaved Royal Duchess, who is extremely popular throughout the whole of the Deeside Highlands.

The cortege passed through Castleton of Braemar at a smarter pace, the intervening two miles to the Victoria Bridge which spans the Dee at the entrance to the private policies of New Mar Lodge being covered in a few minutes.

Awaiting its arrival at the bridge was a large crowd of visitors and others, but from this point absolute privacy was observed so far as the closing scenes of the day's proceedings were concerned.

The casket was here removed from the hearse to a bier, and in a few minutes the wail of the bagpipes in the Mackintosh's Lament, which was the favourite pibroch of the late Duke, was the melancholy announcement to the hundreds of people who lined the southern bank of the Dee that the final portion of the sad journey had begun.

By this time the mist had lifted from distant Lochnagar, the sun was venturing to peep through the prevailing masses of dark watery clouds, there was not a breath of wind to move a leaf, and the gradually receding strains of the pibroch as the cortege disappeared among the trees punctuated a scene of stately solemnity.

The vault within the chapel, which was specially constructed for the interment, is built of polished red granite, and before it was sealed up yesterday afternoon the inhabitants of the district, including the estate servants and their families, were invited to view the casket, and a very large crowd availed themselves of the privilege.The Duke of Fife received a new patent as Duke of Fife and Earl of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in April 1900, with special remainder to his daughters by Princess Louise and their heirs male.