Balmoral Castle


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Christopher Hibbert, the author of The Royal Victorians wrote:
When King Edward VII became King, Queen Alexandra insisted that none of the wallpapers of Balmoral Castle must be touched. Alexandra expressed that Balmoral was Queen Victoria's favorite home.
 
Balmoral cairns
There are sixteen stone cairns on the Balmoral estate in Deeside, Scotland, including a single cairn on the adjoining Birkhall estate. The cairns commemorate members of the British royal family and events in their lives. The majority of the cairns were erected by Queen Victoria.
The cairns commemorate the marriages of Victoria's children, of the Princess Royal (to Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia in 1858) located on Canup, Prince Albert Edward located on the Coyles of Muick, Princess Alice, Princess Helena, Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold all located on Craig Gowan and Princess Beatrice located at the bottom of Creagh an Lurachain.
Victoria's son Prince Alfred's cairn is located on Ripe Hill.
The Duchess of Kent's Cairn, Queen Victoria's mother, is located near Sgor an h-lolaire.
The largest cairn was erected by Victoria in memory of her husband Prince Albert after his death in 1861. The Ballochbuie Cairn marks the purchase by Victoria of the Ballochbuie forest in 1878.
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More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balmoral_cairns

Cairn commissioned by Queen Victoria for Prince Albert
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Cairn_for_Prince_Albert_Balmoral.JPG

Cairn erected in 1882 to commemorate the marriage of Prince Leopold with Balmoral Castle in the background
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...Balmoral_Estate_-_geograph.org.uk_-_36258.jpg
 
A lovely picture - this is always one of the more attractive views of the Castle IMO.
 
The Laird was in a hard place after the flood of 2016.

It's land between Balmoral and Birkhall, with a precariously-perched castle on an eroded riverbank. The Royals have plenty of land.
 
Leopoldine said:
The Laird was in a hard place after the flood of 2016.

It's land between Balmoral and Birkhall, with a precariously-perched castle on an eroded riverbank. The Royals have plenty of land.
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Thanks for the further details Leopoldine … I’m not in disagreement with the owner of private land doing what is best for himself and his family.

And perhaps the hunting, fishing, shooting days are drawing to a close for the Royals anyway with the Charles being older, William being busier and Harry not in the UK.
 
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www.telegraph.co.uk

King Charles to open Balmoral to the public for the first time

Small group tours will be shown around the interior of the Scottish castle for a month-long trial period this summer
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk
The King will allow public tours of Balmoral this summer for the first time in the Scottish castle’s history.
Small groups will be shown around the interior by experienced guides, taking in several rooms used by the King and Queen.
A royal source said the move was in line with the King’s wish to make royal residences more accessible to the public.
But it also reflects the suggestions made following his mother’s death, that the house had been earmarked as a place for the public to remember her.
A royal source noted that Balmoral, unlike others such as Buckingham Palace, is not set up as a large-scale visitor attraction.
The month-long summer tour programme is considered a trial period, during which estate staff will be able to gauge how the historic building copes with increased footfall.
Until now, the interior of the vast castle has largely remained out of bounds to members of the public, with tours limited to just the ballroom, the grounds and the gardens.
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Also interesting to note that the Castle is open until the end of the first week of August again so clearly this is the new normal - a later royal summer break at Balmoral (though of course the King can use Birkhall any time he wants).

The price seems pretty high to me - £100. But looking elsewhere Buckingham Palace is £95 pounds for an "exclusive tour" so I guess that is the going rate these days. Hopefully its a success and they decide to open more widely (and therefore for a lower price)
 
tommy100 said:
www.telegraph.co.uk

King Charles to open Balmoral to the public for the first time

Small group tours will be shown around the interior of the Scottish castle for a month-long trial period this summer
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk


Also interesting to note that the Castle is open until the end of the first week of August again so clearly this is the new normal - a later royal summer break at Balmoral (though of course the King can use Birkhall any time he wants).

The price seems pretty high to me - £100. But looking elsewhere Buckingham Palace is £95 pounds for an "exclusive tour" so I guess that is the going rate these days. Hopefully its a success and they decide to open more widely (and therefore for a lower price)
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I think I read afternoon tea is included.
 
Hallo girl said:
I think I read afternoon tea is included.
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The price is 150 pounds if you'd like to include afternoon tea.

There are only 40 spots per day available for this exclusive tour.
 
£50 extra for afternoon tea is alot IMO. I went to an afternoon in a 5 star hotel in Liverpool a month ago and it was £35 per person so they are defo adding a “royal” premium.
That said, all the tickets have now sold out, so the demand is there. I just think £100 for a tour of anywhere is far too much! I read in one of the newspapers BP is offering tours of the renovated East Wing to include the centre room from where the RF make their balcony appearances- the cost, £75! So clearly it is the going rate.
 
Curryong said:
It’s £150 if afternoon tea is included. Very pricey for families!
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I agree if you were taking families, but is it really a family day out, I cannot see kids being interested but I do believe they will garner enough interest from tourists and royal watchers. they are obviously trying it and if it doesn't work they need to go back to the drawing board.
 
tommy100 said:
£50 extra for afternoon tea is alot IMO. I went to an afternoon in a 5 star hotel in Liverpool a month ago and it was £35 per person so they are defo adding a “royal” premium.
That said, all the tickets have now sold out, so the demand is there. I just think £100 for a tour of anywhere is far too much! I read in one of the newspapers BP is offering tours of the renovated East Wing to include the centre room from where the RF make their balcony appearances- the cost, £75! So clearly it is the going rate.
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It is a limited seats only, accompanied tour, so the price, IMO, is justified. Nobody is forced to take the tour, they are free to not visit if they do not want to spend the money.
 
Somebody said:
The price is 150 pounds if you'd like to include afternoon tea.

There are only 40 spots per day available for this exclusive tour.
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A very exclusive Afternoon Tea and Tour ,no photos either inside the castle.
 
An Ard Ri said:
A very exclusive Afternoon Tea and Tour ,no photos either inside the castle.
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And i think one needs a Car to reach the Castle so if you are a Tourist you need to rent one. Don't think there is public transport to it.
 
Stefan said:
And i think one needs a Car to reach the Castle so if you are a Tourist you need to rent one. Don't think there is public transport to it.
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Its a long drive for afternoon tea and I suspect avid Royal watchers only will flock!
 
An Ard Ri said:
Its a long drive for afternoon tea and I suspect avid Royal watchers only will flock!
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Maybe that’s one reason why the tea is added as a potential add on: it’s a long drive. This adds something special to the experience.

I think it’s a nice thing to try anyway.

Balmoral is also pretty remote, right? IOW- you really have to want to see it. So….trying out various add ons makes sense to me.
 
I should add to my earlier comments while I could never justify £100 to myself to tour any building no matter how small a group I was in, I absolutely don’t blame them offering it and charging that price. As it sold out in 24hrs they obviously know people will pay and so they can make money to help keep the estate running.
 
An Ard Ri said:
Its a long drive for afternoon tea and I suspect avid Royal watchers only will flock!
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There are a number of bus tours go up to that area, it is a beautiful part of the country, so as an optional extra on a bus trip could go down well. If it doesn't pay they will not do it again.
 
Hallo girl said:
There are a number of bus tours go up to that area, it is a beautiful part of the country, so as an optional extra on a bus trip could go down well. If it doesn't pay they will not do it again.
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As they only allow 40 visitors a day, I don't think they are aiming at bus loads.
 
Somebody said:
As they only allow 40 visitors a day, I don't think they are aiming at bus loads.
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I didn’t mean dozens of buses every day. I was referring to comments with regards how Isolated Balmoral is, and the cost. It sold out in no time, so there is interest, as long as they get it right. An hour and a bit from Aberdeen isn’t that isolated. Ballater isn’t that far. There are lots of lovely journeys through Scotland , I drove 90 minutes to a wedding last month.
This is a trial, they obviously do not want to over stretch themselves on the first
season.
 
tommy100 said:
£50 extra for afternoon tea is alot IMO. I went to an afternoon in a 5 star hotel in Liverpool a month ago and it was £35 per person so they are defo adding a “royal” premium.
That said, all the tickets have now sold out, so the demand is there. I just think £100 for a tour of anywhere is far too much! I read in one of the newspapers BP is offering tours of the renovated East Wing to include the centre room from where the RF make their balcony appearances- the cost, £75! So clearly it is the going rate.
Click to expand...
That's $189.56 US Dollars or 174.96 Euros. That's very pricey for a tour and tea. In comparison here in New York, the Kykuit Rockefeller Estate charged us last year only $75.00 (59.34 pounds) for the 3-hour grand tour that included the inside home museum and the enormous outside park via bus tour. Kykuit was the home of the guilded age oil millionaires that build the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC to put the billion-dollar art surplus that could not fit in the house, since in the basement museum they have the walls packed with Picasso's and Andy Warhol's. The Rockefeller family still owns the estate and uses one building on the grounds as the Charities and other business headquarters.

So, if anyone visits Balmoral, I hope the expense is worth the money and it becomes open to the public when not in use by the family.
 
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