King Charles III is breaking royal tradition by offering tours of Balmoral Castle for the first time in history.
The highly profitable tours, which will take place from July 1 to August 4, were priced up to $189.51 each and include afternoon tea, according to Time. Demonstrating remarkable demand, all tickets were snatched up within a day.
Nestled alongside the Dee River within Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park, the Balmoral estate has functioned as the British royal family’s Scottish residence since 1852 after Prince Albert acquired it for his wife, Queen Victoria. In 2022, the late Queen Elizabeth II died at the castle after reigning on the throne for 70 years.
The tour will take visitors “on a historical journey through several of the beautiful rooms within Balmoral Castle,” according to the tour’s ticketing page.
The website added that buyers will “travel through time from the purchase of the Balmoral by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, through to present day, where you can see how rooms within the Castle are used today by their Majesties The King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family.”
The tour is the latest headline-making news in the royal family’s tumultuous year.
Last month, celebrated journalist and royal expert Tina Brown theorized that Prince William’s ascension to the British throne might be coming sooner than anticipated. In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Brown claimed that Charles’ illness places William, 41, “in frightening proximity to ascending the throne.”
Brown provided an account of the current condition of the royal family following the cancer diagnoses of both Charles, 75, and Princess Kate Middleton.
“The prospect of it, I am told, is causing them intense anxiety,” Brown continued, referring to William and Kate, 42, who would become king and queen. Brown went on to explain that the couple had “hoped for a span of years to parent their children out of the public eye,” but ascending the throne would change those plans. The couple share Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
In February, Charles announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer after undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate one month prior.
“During The King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer,” read a statement from Buckingham Palace. “His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties.”
Kate, meanwhile, announced on March 2022 that she had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer following a planned abdominal surgery in January.
