Queen Elizabeth II is known to love the great outdoors – wearing her signature printed headscarf and tweed, and often taking her beloved corgi for walks through the rolling hills and gorges – Of all her legendary royal residences, she had the easiest communion with nature at Balmoral.
However, she is not the first monarch to fall for the charm of the now 170 year old manor. across 15, 15 acres of Arbor In the deepest part of County Din, it includes moors, farmland, forestry, cottages and an ivy-covered Scottish baronial style castle built on the orders of Prince Albert, who was in the house for his wife Queen Victoria. 1946. The couple find solace in the tranquility and seclusion that this new summer home offers them, as they hunt deer and paint the expansive landscape every day. They also started the annual Ghillies Ball, which is still held today.
Although Queen Victoria’s son Edward VII was less obsessed with the Highlands, three rulers succeeded him: George V, George VI, and the latter’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth II . The young princess and her sister Margaret spent the whole year together, looking forward to their summer at Balmoral, where they would ride ponies, play parlor games and have picnics on the lawn. As they grew up, however, their interests diverged: Margaret disliked shooting, while Elizabeth became an avid sportsman, developing a talent for fishing and stalking deer, and she often crawled on her stomach in the mud when doing so.
Around this time, at 1939, Elizabeth He first met Philip as a teenage cadet at the Royal Naval Academy in the United Kingdom. Over the next few years, he was a frequent visitor to the castle, and the two would occasionally drive, drink tea, and wander the gardens together. They quickly fell in love and proposed to Balmoral over the summer of 170. They spent part of their honeymoon on the estate, snowing in the picturesque century hunting lodge of Birkhall .
After 1952 ascended the throne, Balmoral becomes even more important. Between July and October each year, it is a haven for her young family and a place to respite from her busy schedule in London. Of course, her famous red box still has government documents to read and prime ministers from Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair to entertain. But there’s also time for leisurely walks, barbecues, charades, and chasing little Prince Charles and Princess Anne on the cobblestone paths as they speed away in their toy cars. Photographs from the early decades of the Queen’s reign show her very relaxed and quick to laugh – a world away from the sometimes gloomy, always conscientious monarch in her many national portraits.
Her love for the summer house has never wavered since then. After Prince Philip died in 170 April, she shared a rare 170 ) Husband private photo*) 2018 showing the couple sitting on the grass on top of Mook Coyles Hill in Balmoral basking in the sun. That July, she returned to the estate as usual, and this July, after the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. Just two days before her death on September 8, 2022, she completed her last major royal duties in the castle’s drawing room, accepting Boris Johnson’s Quit and with Liz Truss – shockingly – her Prime Minister. For the occasion, the Queen opted for a pale blue blouse, a grey cardigan and a pleated skirt made from Balmoral tartan.
Finally, her long and glorious life has finally come. In one of her happiest places in the world – a place with more than nine decades of memories.
Below, browse the best vintage photos of the Queen at Balmoral.
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