The Queen is nothing if not a creature of habit - returning each year to her royal residences Sandringham at Christmas and Balmoral in the summer.
But the Queen's move to the Scottish country estate is more significant this year since it will mark the first time the monarch has emerged from Windsor Castle since lockdown began.
The Queen and Prince Philip are expected to journey there next week, reportedly travelling by helicopter with a small team - what has been dubbed their royal 'bubble.'
While she has previously welcomed guests, including royal family members from around the world and the Prime Minister, to the Aberdeenshire estate, ongoing safety concerns mean her time there this year is not expected to be punctuated with visits from dignitaries.
Balmoral is a special place for the Queen. As Princess Eugenie put it in the documentary Our Queen At Ninety: “I think Granny is the most happy [at Balmoral]. I think she really, really loves the Highlands.”
The 50,000 acre estate was purchased in 1852 by Prince Albert as a gift for Queen Victoria. Since then, the estate has served as a private summer holiday home for the British monarchy, one of the few places where the royals can let their hair down and play at being normal for a while.
As Prime Minister Tony Blair recalled in his biography: “You think I’m joking, but I’m not. [The royals] put the gloves on and stick their hands in the sink [to do the washing up]. The Queen asks if you’ve finished, she stacks the plates up and goes off to the sink.”
Outdoor activities are practically mandatory. Princess Eugenie says a stay at Balmoral involves “walks, picnics and a lot of dogs”.
Though there are still some grand royal touches: at Balmoral the Queen is woken every morning at 9am by bagpipes playing outside her window (though she might be looking to fill that position as her piper reportedly resigned in 2018.)
Previously the sitting Prime Minister would also be expected to visit at some point during the holiday - though circumstances mean this year it is unlikely that Boris will stay - though former PM Tony Blair called the visits “intriguing, surreal, freaky”.
Though most of what happens in Balmoral stays in Balmoral, a few stories from the place have emerged over the years:
The Queen reportedly made this political point to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Sightings of Queen Elizabeth driving around her Royal Deeside estate are common. The Queen learned to drive trucks in World War 2 and appears to enjoy the freedom of getting behind the wheel when she's staying at Balmoral. During one visit, British ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles recounted to the Sunday Times that the Queen gave the late King Abdullah a fright with a fast drive around the estate.
The Queen was hosting him in 2003, at a time when women were banned from driving in Saudi Arabia.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles said, “After lunch, the Queen had asked her royal guest whether he would like a tour of the estate. Prompted by his foreign minister the urbane Prince Saud, an initially hesitant Abdullah had agreed.”
“To his surprise, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off. Women are not — yet — allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia,” Cowper-Coles continued [the interview took place before women were given the right to drive] “and Abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman, let alone a queen.”
“His nervousness only increased as the Queen, an Army driver in wartime, accelerated the Land Rover along the narrow Scottish estate roads, talking all the time. Through his interpreter, the Crown Prince implored the Queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead,” he finished.
Balmoral is where the Queen was reunited with royal nemesis Cruachan IV
Cruachan IV, a cheeky Shetland pony, has become something of an Internet sensation over the past few years thanks to his entertaining encounters with the Royal Family. In 2018, he was escorted up to Balmoral to meet the Queen by Pony Major Mark Wilkinson.
We don’t know what Cruachan IV has against the Queen, but the pony nearly bit her in 2014 and later tried to eat her bouquet of flowers in 2017. (He also tried to bite Prince Harry earlier this year.) In 2018, he was brought to the gates of Balmoral and showed Queen Elizabeth exactly what he thought of her - pooping throughout their reunion and on her doorstep.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s 'desperate' honeymoon
The countryside isn’t for everyone and apparently it wasn’t for Princess Diana in 1981. Historian Sally Bedell Smith said Diana reportedly “couldn’t stand being at Balmoral” - one leg of her and Prince Charles’ honeymoon. Balmoral concluded their honeymoon trip, which spanned two weeks and saw the couple sail across the Mediterranean in the Royal Yacht Britannia before trading the sunshine for the Scottish highlands.
Although the pair posed for a series of romantic photographs, royal biographer and author of The Diana Chronicles Tina Brown said: “The formality of Balmoral’s intractable routine made Diana desperate.”
Penny Junor, author of The Duchess: The Untold Story, said Princess Diana “felt that her husband was avoiding intimate contact” and her dislike of Balmoral reportedly compounded her unhappiness. Prince Charles is said to have “left dealing with Diana to others” including his close aide Michael Colborne. Junor said Colborne witnessed as Diana “cried, paced around the room, kicked the furniture, ranted about everyone and everything to do with the place she hated so much”.
Ms. Junor mentioned that Diana was no great reader and was offended that Charles might prefer to bury his head in a book rather than sit and talk to her.
Diana and Charles went to Balmoral after their cruise to the Mediterranean. The author wrote that she hated the countryside, hated his family's passion for horses and dogs, hated the rain that poured down remorselessly, and felt that her husband was avoiding intimate contact.
The Queen's comedy Balmoral cushion
In 2016, ITV released the documentary Our Queen at 90, which provided an in-depth look at ER's life. Naturally, Balmoral Castle featured throughout the feature and a few beady-eyed Twitter users spotted one funny little detail in the corner of the screen - a pillow embroidered with the words, “IT’S GOOD TO BE QUEEN”.
The bright red pillow, which included what seems to be a picture of her favoured Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, instantly became an Internet sensation with one user writing “Same.”
Prime Minister Tony Blair boozes his way through dinner
Tony Blair opened up about his “utterly freaky” experiences at Balmoral, which he recalled with “a bit of horror” in his autobiography. Beyond his revelations about the Queen doing the dishes and Prince Philip manning the barbecue, he said that he would pour himself drinks that were “true rocket fuel” to get himself through dinners with the family.
Calling the drinks a “blessing”, he said, “Had it been a dry event, had the Queen been a teetotaller or a temperance fanatic, I don't believe I could have got through the weekend. But this stuff — I was never quite sure what it was — I was absolutely sure it was what was needed... The easy conversation intercourse with the Royal Family seemed entirely natural."
Blair would visit with his wife Cherie: “Individually, it can be a little nerve-racking to be with them; en masse, all of them and just Cherie and me, well, you can imagine.”
Balmoral is where the Royal Family rallied around Prince Harry and William after Princess Diana's death
When Princess Diana passed away on August 31, 1997, her sons Prince William and Harry were in Balmoral spending time with their grandparents Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and father Prince Charles. The group were photographed emerging from Balmoral’s gates to view tributes to the 'People’s Princess', while Queen Elizabeth was criticised for not cutting short their Balmoral stay to return to London and publicly mourn Princess Diana.
She eventually returned to London and appeared on a live broadcast, revealing a rare insight into those devastating Balmoral days. She explained, “This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered.”
The Diana Chronicles author Tina Brown told Channel 5: “The Queen was adamant that her place was at Balmoral with her grieving grandsons. Everyone rallied around the young princes... We should admire her for that. Her thoughts were with her grandchildren and she wasn't thinking about how this would be played out in the media.”
Prince Philip is also said to have taken the boys “walking, horse riding and fishing every day - anything to take their minds off the tragedy” according to Brown.
