FOR over 40 years I have been taking photographs of the Royal Family at their favorite holiday home in the Scottish Highlands, covering the highs and lows of their lives.
It was here that I first saw Prince Charles with Lady Diana Spencer and told the story of their love affair.
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At the time, Balmoral was the place where the Queen comforted her son Charles and her grandchildren in the dark days after Princess Diana’s death in Paris in 1997.
But incredibly, in all this time I had never been inside Balmoral – until now.
Since the Queen’s death in 2022, King Charles has been determined to make the castle the last royal residence open to the public.
On April 2, almost 3,500 “golden tickets” went on sale for £100 each.
Within hours, they were snapped up by tourists from all over the world, eager to receive guided tours of the house until August 4th.
The team will then prepare it for the King’s summer vacation, which begins on August 19th.
I was lucky enough to secure a pair of tickets for the first day, July 1st, which coincidentally would have been Princess Diana’s 63rd birthday.
Diana, I knew from our conversations over the years, didn’t like Balmoral.
But the Queen herself told me how much she adored this 100-room pile set on a 50,000-acre estate beside the River Dee, where she could be a mother and a wife – a world away from her life as the most famous woman on the planet. .
On a trip to India, I once asked her, “Why do you always go to Balmoral? Wouldn’t you like to go somewhere else?”
She replied, “Where else could I go?” I said, “You are the Queen, you can go anywhere in the world.”
She smiled at me and said, “But I really like it there.”
As the Queen walked away, her lady-in-waiting approached and said to me: “When she passes through those gates at Balmoral, at the start of her annual leave, she happily takes off her shoes.”
Speaking of shoes, every paying visitor to Balmoral has to put blue plastic covers over their shoes to preserve the colorful Stewart hunting rug that the king had placed in many of the rooms.
Additionally, each of the 3,400 lucky visitors who snagged a coveted ticket – coming from as far away as Australia and New Zealand – has to leave their phone at the entrance, because selfies are not allowed.
Even though I was a real photographer, I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside.
But here’s my verdict on what we saw on our 45-minute tour, which was worth every penny of the £100 fee – and now I understand why royals love coming here so much.
PAGE LOBBY
The Page is the team leader, on duty 24 hours a day, and the one who sees the Monarch first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
The book-filled Page’s Lobby is the only room that feels like the 21st century has caught up with it, with a computer on the desk and a Sky TV box.
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It was where the Page on duty filmed horse races so the late Queen could return from the hills and follow the day’s action.
ENTRANCE HALL
INSIDE the entrance are 22 deer heads that have been chased by every monarch since Victoria, plus a huge wooden fireplace from the original castle that she and her husband Albert rebuilt.
There is also a bronze statue of King Malcolm, who ruled Scotland in the 11th century.
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Galoshes, boots and boots worn by royalty sit under tables, along with fishing rods.
DRAWING ROOM
EACH of the 30 visitors who entered the drawing room yesterday must have remembered the brilliant last photo of the Queen taken by Jane Barlow as she stood before a roaring fire in her drawing room.
Two days later she passed away. The room is much smaller and more intimate than I imagined.
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King Charles has changed very little here since the Queen’s death, although carpet is the new plaid.
The grand piano is there, where the family used to sing, and there is a fabulous photo of Charles and Camilla’s coronation, along with a photo of their beloved grandmother, the Queen Mother.
Queen Victoria’s small chair is also in the room.
The Crown TV program claimed that Mrs Thatcher sat in it, but our guide said that never happened – no one can sit in Victoria’s chair.
DINING ROOMS
THERE ARE two dining rooms, one of which is where every PM has sat for over a century, as well as President Eisenhower and Florence Nightingale.
The other smaller family dining room nearby used to be a billiards room.
On the dining table in the largest room sits a metal figure of Victoria’s favorite servant, John Brown – but he looks nothing like Billy Connolly, who played him on screen.
The paintings in the room have never been exhibited, so we were the first members of the public to see them.
RED CORRIDOR
The white and gold flocked wallpaper in this 30-metre hallway, with its dark red carpet, was made for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.
It is so well preserved that it looks like it was hung yesterday.
At the time of the Jubilee, the warship Temeraire, from Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, was destroyed, and a gong made of wood and metal from the ship is in the hall.
A Latin inscription at the top translates as: “No one attacks me and gets away with it”, the motto of the Royal Family clan.
KING’S STUDY
THOUSANDS of books cover the walls of the study, which King Edward VII called “the Room of the Unread”.
But it is here, on a desk near the window, that Queen Elizabeth and now King Charles open their red boxes and read their state documents.
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Assistant curator and tour guide Sarah Hoare says: “From his table, the King has an incredible view of the valley. I don’t know how he manages to get any work done.
Sophie’s Glass Act
SOPHIE, Duchess of Edinburgh, showed off her hands-free drinking skills during a carriage riding challenge at the Sandringham Horse Driving Trials in Norfolk.
She had her husband Edward and daughter Lady Louise laughing as she held the glass of water between her teeth – prompting the prince to pick up his phone for a snap.
Previously, Sophie was named President of Trials.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
