ANDY Murray chose a suite at his new hotel named after Robert the Bruce to state his admiration for the Scots king who defeated the English 700 years ago at Bannockburn.
Speaking at the Cromlix, the Perthshire hotel he purchased for £1.8m last February and which opened earlier this month, the tennis star once more declined to give his views on independence.
But he said of the nationalist hero: "I admire Robert the Bruce. He was obviously a strong-willed person who fought hard for his country, a bit like me."
Murray revealed that he personally chose the names for all 15 rooms in the hotel, which is managed by Inverlochy Castle Management (ICMI). They range from the Connery, the Burns and the Wallace to the Sir Chris Hoy, the Ferguson and the Bowes-Lyon. He said: "Naming the rooms after great Scots was one of my ideas, and I researched them all to try to get a good balance. It was great fun."
Murray had spent his first night at the hotel since its refurbishment with his fiancee Kim Sears in the Honeymoon Suite before formally opening it. Asked if they planned to marrythere, as his brother Jamie did, he said: "I haven't thought about getting married here, and haven't spoken to Kim about it. I'd let her make that decision." Murray and Sears chose the colour scheme for the five-star hotel, in collaboration with the Paris-based designer Kathleen Fraser. His mother Judy oversaw the refurbishment project.
Murray added: "When I finish playing I'll spend more time here, but what my role will be I don't know. At the moment it will be nice to come here and relax with my family, which I don't often do.
"Part of the reason I bought and restored the hotel was to be able to put something back into the local area, which has done so much for me and my family."
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