Balmoral: King of the castles

Balmoral Castle rises from the mist of the Cairngorms, a riot of turrets and ivy-clad granite.

You wouldn’t come here for the weather (though if you’re lucky enough to coincide with warm sunshine, there’s nowhere better); and you wouldn’t come because it’s Scotland’s most beautiful castle (that would arguably be Eilean Donan).

Nor is it the most historic (try Dunnottar, where the Scottish crown jewels were hidden from Oliver Cromwell, or Edinburgh, the most besieged castle in British history).

But if what you’re after is an insight into the British Royal Family, you’d be in precisely the right place: Balmoral has been their favourite location to relax for generations. It’s the place, according to the late Lord Lichfield – a cousin of Elizabeth II – where the royals ‘act as normal people – to a point’.

And in July and August 2024, for the first time ever, more of the rooms the royals use will also be accessible. Balmoral was said to be the favourite home of the late Queen Elizabeth, which adds poignancy to the fact she died here in 2022, two days after meeting Liz Truss in the drawing room with its green sofas and gold clock on the mantelpiece.

It’s one of the rooms visitors will now be able to see on the summer tours. The new tours will also offer access to the family dining room, the library and the pages’ lobby for the first time since the castle’s completion in 1855.

Until now, the Royal Family’s Scottish retreat has only allowed the public into the grounds – first made accessible in 1931 – and the ballroom, where the Queen’s coffin rested for three days.

The guide tells me there are no official staterooms at Balmoral, and while the ballroom may sound grand, it’s surprisingly intimate, and not overly large. It’s the setting for the annual Ghillies’ Ball, and the Royal Stewart tartan gown worn by Queen Camilla for last year’s is on display, near a Norman Hartnell number worn at the same occasion in 1971 by Elizabeth II.

Opening up their Scottish home will demonstrate that away from the pomp, the royals’ favourite times are as simple as anyone else’s

Stags stare down from the walls at an exhibition of watercolours by the King: they’re precise, colourful paintings of his homes, Highgrove House and Windsor Castle among them.

Another shows a whitewashed stone building surrounded by a garden. This is Birkhall, seven miles west of Balmoral, where Charles and Camilla usually stay when they’re in Scotland.

While Balmoral is their official home – it’s where the King will greet the Prime Minister for their weekly chats – for the complete away-from-it-all experience, Birkhall is their preferred base. It was here they stayed during Covid lockdowns.

Despite the uncertainty of the weather, Balmoral, in Aberdeenshire, has always been an alfresco getaway for the Royal Family, since 1852 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought the estate. She recorded in her diary: ‘I seldom walk less than four hours a day and when I come in I feel as if I want to go out again.’

A scene from the 1969 documentary Royal Family sees Princess Anne and Prince Philip tending a barbecue here; a generation later Prince Harry wrote that his grandfather remained an enthusiastic outdoor cook, while Princess Eugenie described the estate as a place for walks and picnics.

Today, the connection with the outdoors is as strong as ever – fuelled now by the nature-loving monarch. During my visit, the garden is a hive of activity, gardeners busy on the site of what will become a thistle-shaped maze.

A notice nearby says how the project will also involve a series of herbaceous borders to encourage pollinators. This is part of the King’s project to develop the grounds, as his great-great-great grandfather Prince Albert did in the 1850s. Albert also oversaw the building of the current castle, which replaced the smaller one in 1855, and it’s perhaps Albert’s love of the place (it reminded him of the Germany of his childhood) that led Victoria to spend much time here after he died at 42 in 1861. Garden Cottage, a short walk across the lawn, was built for the gardener, but Victoria enjoyed having breakfast on its terrace – today, visitors can peer through the windows into sitting rooms and bedrooms.

Tony Blair described how the late Queen would roll up her sleeves and organise the washing up

Balmoral sits 1,000 feet above sea level and frost can come any night of the year; but the summer months see 18 hours of daylight, which means plants can reach maturity faster than in most other parts of the UK.

Prince Philip took a keen interest in the gardens and relocated the kitchen garden to its current site. Today it supplies the household with vegetables from potatoes and carrots to black radishes and ginger.

Flowers from the garden decorate not only the castle but also nearby Crathie Church, where the royals worship.

Balmoral had a special role in the marriage of the late Queen and Prince Philip. It was here he is said to have proposed to her in 1947, with the couple then spending part of their honeymoon at Birkhall. They were to return each summer for six weeks or so – and in time their children played in the sandpit and on the swing, still there today.

Although it is primarily a family retreat, the royals have used Balmoral to host the great and the good: in 1896 Queen Victoria welcomed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia; more recently it saw visits from Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, and later Margaret Thatcher, who found the rounds of charades a trial. Tony Blair described how the late Queen would roll up her sleeves and organise the washing up.

While Balmoral provided a backdrop to the successful marriages of Victoria and Albert, and later Elizabeth and Philip, it had a darker resonance in the story of King Charles and Princess Diana. Although the couple reportedly began their relationship here, she didn’t enjoy her later trips, and it was while Princes William and Harry were here in 1997 that Charles had to break the news that she’d been killed in a car accident.

Now, after a difficult time for the royals, the hope must be that opening up their much-loved Scottish home will herald a new era and demonstrate that away from the pomp, their favourite times are as simple as anyone else’s: country walks, sunset barbecues and the chance to enjoy the flowers in the garden.