A piece of royal history has been made public for the first time.
King Charles III is opening the doors to Scotland’s Balmoral Castle, a storied estate that serves as a frequent vacation spot for the royal family. “For the first time since the castle was completed in 1855, we have been granted permission to take you on a private tour with our experienced guides,” Balmoral Castle’s website reads. “They will take you on a historical journey through several of the beautiful rooms within Balmoral Castle.”
The guided tour, which is currently sold out, is available for $126 a person, with the option of paying $189 for afternoon tea.
Visitors can explore the three-story home, which is purported to boast 167 rooms, while learning the origins of the estate and “travel[ing] 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 excursion includes a viewing of King Charles’ watercolor collection depicting scenery at Balmoral, Highgrove and Sandringham. Guests can also catch a collection of outfits worn by the King, Queen Camilla and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Frequently used as an annual private retreat for the Windsors, Balmoral Castle was a special place for Queen Elizabeth, who peacefully died there in September 2022. “I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands,” her granddaughter Princess Eugenie said in the documentary Our Queen at Ninety.
She added, “Walks, picnics, dogs — a lot of dogs, there’s always dogs — and people coming in and out all the time. It’s a lovely base for Granny and Grandpa, for us to come and see them up there, where you just have room to breathe and run.”
In 1997, Balmoral Castle made news as the location where Prince Harry and Prince William learned that their mom, Princess Diana, had been killed in a car accident. Harry, 39, recounted in his memoir Spare that he was asleep in his bedroom when then-Prince Charles appeared, “standing at the edge of the bed, looking down. His white dressing-gown made him seem like a ghost in a play.”
Charles “sat down on the edge of the bed” and told his son: “Darling boy, Mummy’s been in a car crash.”
Despite the painful memories, Harry shared fond recollections about his time at the castle, which he described as a “sacred paradise” and “a cross between Disney World and some sacred Druid grove.” The royal also hinted at some of the oddities of the famed estate, including lore that Queen Victoria, “mad with grief” over the death of Prince Albert, locked herself inside Balmoral Castle and refused to come out.
“What I’m trying to say is, I was happy there,” Harry wrote. “In fact, it’s possible that I was never happier than that one golden summer day at Balmoral: August 30, 1997.”
