Why _a _Danish _billionaire _bought_ the_ Highlands

Anders Povlsen: Why a Danish billionaire bought the Highlands

Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen and his wife Anne recently thanked the people of Scotland for their support after three of their four children died in the Sri Lanka attacks in April.

But how did the fashion retail tycoon come to be Scotland's biggest private landowner - and what is he planning to do with his vast Highland estates?

Like hundreds of thousands of other tourists who pour into the Scottish Highlands every year, Mr Povlsen was captivated by its rugged beauty when he visited for an angling holiday with his parents in the 1980s.

Two decades later, Mr Povlsen returned to the country he had fallen in love with - but this time, he was wielding his cheque book rather than a fishing rod.

The Danish businessman, who is reportedly worth £4.5bn thanks to his Bestseller clothes retail empire, bought the 42,000-acre Glenfeshie estate in the Cairngorms for £8m in 2006.

The estate's Glenfeshie Lodge, which was built in about 1880, continues to serve as Mr Povlsen's private Highland home, and has featured in films and TV series including The Crown and The Queen.

Since then, the 46-year-old billionaire, who is the biggest single shareholder in the Asos online retailer, and his wife have continued to snap up huge swathes of the Scottish countryside. They now own about 220,000 acres across 12 estates.