THE Queen has travelled to her private Scottish home of Balmoral for the start of her traditional summer break.
The Queen is unlikely to be alone for very long as members of her family are invited to spend time with her at Balmoral every summer.
The estate, though privately owned, has been handed tens of thousands of pounds in taxpayer-funded subsidies.
In 2021, The National also revealed that the Queen was successful in appealing against the rateable value of three shooting estates in Scotland, including Balmoral, in a move which saved her thousands of pounds a year.
The move meant the new rateable value (RV) for deer stalking at Balmoral is lower than that of many pubs, shops and restaurants in the area.
Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson may travel up to Aberdeenshire for the premier’s annual visit to the monarch’s Scottish home, if the new Conservative leader is not chosen by the time of the get-together.
Prime ministers are traditionally invited to stay with the Queen at Balmoral and in the past Harold Wilson, who is said to have “got on like a house on fire” with the monarch, would join members of the royal family for riverside picnics at Balmoral.
But things were very different with Margaret Thatcher, who reportedly found the traditional September weekend at Balmoral painful.
One observer wrote: “A weekend in the country with aristocrats who enjoy riding, shooting, sports and games is Thatcher’s idea of torture.”
Thatcher also reportedly could not abide the charades that she was expected to play after dinner at Balmoral.
During a gathering of six of her premiers, the Queen once joked about “the party games which some of you have so nobly endured at Balmoral”.
