John Brown (8 December 1826 – 27 March 1883) was a Scottish personal attendant and favourite of Queen Victoria for many years after working as a ghillie for Prince Albert.

Brown was born on 8 December 1826 at Crathienaird, Crathie and Braemar Aberdeenshire, to Margaret Leys and John Brown,[2][3] and went to work as an outdoor servant (in Scots ghillie or gillie) at Balmoral Castle, which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert leased in February 1848, and purchased outright in November 1851.

His brother Archibald Anderson "Archie" Brown, 15 years John's junior, eventually became personal valet to Victoria's youngest son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

Norman Macleod, made a deathbed confession repenting his action in presiding over Queen Victoria's marriage to John Brown.

A letter from Victoria to Viscount Cranbrook, written shortly after Brown's death but rediscovered in 2004, shows how she described the loss:[12] Perhaps never in history was there so strong and true an attachment, so warm and loving a friendship between the sovereign and servant [...] Strength of character as well as power of frame – the most fearless uprightness, kindness, sense of justice, honesty, independence and unselfishness combined with a tender, warm heart [...] made him one of the most remarkable men.

The historian who discovered the letter believed that it suggested that Victoria, in her mind, equated Brown's death with Albert's, and that she therefore viewed him as more than a servant, but also as a good friend and confidant.

Unlike Brown, whose loyalty was not questioned, there were contemporary allegations that Abdul Karim exploited his position for personal gain and prestige.

[10] Two days after being afflicted with erysipelas, which crippled him to the point of not being able to attend the queen for the first time in over eighteen years as her servant, John Brown died, aged 56, at Windsor Castle on 27 March 1883, and is buried in Crathie Kirkyard, in the next plot to his parents and a number of his siblings.

[17] In a letter to the British poet Alfred Tennyson, from whom she commissioned lines for Brown's tombstone, Victoria eulogised her faithful servant: He had no thought but for me, my welfare, my comfort, my safety, my happiness.

Courageous, unselfish, totally disinterested, discreet to the highest degree, speaking the truth fearlessly and telling me what he thought and considered to be "just and right," without flattery and without saying what would be pleasing if he did not think it right. [...]

Gordon McLeod portrayed John Brown in Victoria the Great (1937), Sixty Glorious Years (1938) and The Prime Minister (1941).