But experts now believe the words “essere amato amando” reveal a
doomed love story. A manager at Penrhyn Castle, near Bangor,
North Wales, deciphered the inscription – Italian rather than
Latin – as “to be loved while loving”. Historians believe the
words were scratched on the glass by lovelorn teenager Lady
Alice Douglas-Pennant. We knew the room had been Lady Alice’s
bedroom. So it was fair to assume the writing was hers and we
began to dig In a story that bears striking similarities to the
novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, her father, industrialist and
Tory MP Lord Penrhyn, banished her to a tower for falling in
love with a gardener. During her time in solitary confinement
around 1880, she is said to have scratched out the message as a
memento of her love. The National Trust – which runs the 19th
century neo-Norman castle – is indebted to Italian-born
education manager Resi Tomat for solving the riddle. House
steward Clare Turgoose said: “We knew the room had been Lady
Alice’s bedroom. So it was fair to assum