Her Majesty the Queen chose to retreat to Balmoral to live out the final days of her life, according to King Charles, who said she ‘especially treasured’ her time there
The late Queen held a very special place in the heart for Balmoral, so much so that she ‘chose’ to live out her final days at the Scottish estate.
Her eldest son and heir King Charles spoke about his beloved mother’s passing during an address to mark 25 years of Scottish Parliament in September 2024. “Speaking from a personal perspective, Scotland has always had a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself,” the King said, noting his “beloved grandmother was proudly Scottish”.
He then poignantly added: “My late mother especially treasured the time spent at Balmoral, and it was there, in the most beloved of places, where she chose to spend her final days.” The Queen’s love for Balmoral Castle in Royal Deeside was well known, and it was where she spent many summers – as a small child with her parents and sister Princess Margaret, and in later life with Prince Philip and their own children.
Prince Philip actually proposed to the Queen, then still a Princess, in the summer of 1946, within the grounds of Balmoral. And the royal couple even spent part of their honeymoon on the estate – in the Birkhall hunting lodge, now owned by King Charles III – in the winter of 1947, having married before 2,000 guests at Westminster Abbey on 20 November.
Having spent so many happy years at Balmoral with her family, the Queen retreated there to live out her final days, before passing away peacefully in her sleep on 8 September 2022, aged 96. Princess Anne later revealed that her mother had shared her concerns over dying at Balmoral, feeling that it would be “more difficult” logistically than if she died elsewhere. “We did try and persuade her that that shouldn’t be part of the decision-making process,” the Princess Royal recalled in a BBC documentary last year. “I hope she felt that that was right in the end, because I think we did.”
Balmoral has been one of the royal family’s residences since 1852, when the estate and its original castle were bought by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. The current Balmoral Castle was commissioned after the house at the time was deemed too small. It was private property belonging to the Queen and not part of the Crown Estate.
The late Queen would famously travel to Balmoral every summer and invite her family members to come and spend time with her at the Scottish estate. It was where she was happiest, according to her granddaughter Princess Eugenie. “It’s the most beautiful place on earth. I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands,” Eugenie previously remarked. “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.”
