After the crofters had been swept from the island, Rum became a hunting playground for the rich and in Edwardian times, reached the peak of its opulence under the ownership of Sir George Bullough, a hugely wealthy Lancashire industrialist who ordered the construction of Kinloch Castle to begin in 1897, using red sandstone imported from Annan, Dumfriesshire.

Over the three years the vast, extravagant hunting lodge took to build, he had to pay his 300 English craftsmen extra to get them to endure the midges.

Kinloch Castle was a timewarp of Edwardian eccentricity. It was the first private residence in Scotland to have electricity, with a dam constructed on the Coire Dhu burn for hydro generation.

It had an “orchestrion” — an organ driven by an electric motor, squash court, golf course, bespoke fittings and it cost approximately the equivalent of £15 million in today's money.

Asked how big he wanted the castle, Sir George airily suggested it be “as big as my yacht” — the 221ft (67m) Clyde-built Rhouma in which he sailed around the world.

Sir George also changed the island's original Gaelic name to Rhum because he didn't want it associated with the alcoholic drink. (It was changed back to its original name in 1991 by what was then the Nature Conservancy Council.

Rum saw years of famous, opulent house parties, attended by famous actors and other celebrities of the day, before its lifestyle faded after the Great War.

Sir George died in 1939 and in 1957 his widow, a society beauty, sold the island and the castle to the Countryside Commission for Scotland.

In 2003 Kinloch Castle was a finalist on the BBC television series Restoration. It is now leaking and requires major repairs. The Prince of Wales is among the many enthusiasts and tourists who would like to see it rescued from its precarious state.

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