Reprinted Articles

As well as the oil of the North Sea Scotland also has another large industry, tourism. Each year more and more people visit keen to take in all that is Scottish. While many visit Edinburgh for business as well as pleasure virtually all will admit that they most wish to visit Edinburgh Castle. Castles have great appeal to a great many people and Scotland has many that are open to visitors, at least in the summer months. The famous Balmoral Castle, found in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, is, actual, a 5 star visitor attraction.

It seems as though, in 1603, when the crowns of Scotland and England were unified, that the Royal family, and it’s court, abandoned Scotland which they rarely visited until 1822. It was in 1822 when King George IV took his famous “one and twenty daft days” vacation in Scotland at the invitation of the author Sir Walter Scott. Scott had ensured that the trip included many of his exaggerated romantic ideas of medieval Scotland resulting in a most flamboyant experience of rich pageantry.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as had the whole of society, had been heavily influenced by Sir Walter Scott’s novels which gave Scotland a romantic appeal. During his trip to Scotland George IV had stayed at Balmoral Estate. The estate dates back to 1390 and was where King Robert II of Scotland had once had a hunting lodge. These facts, and the favorable report from the doctor (Sir James Clark) led Queen Victoria to hire the estate, for their vacation, sight unseen.

Balmoral could not be more different than the places they had been used to but the couple fell in love with the place. Though the property in which they stayed was small, especially by comparison, Victoria and Albert enjoyed themselves immensely often taking long country walks together. It was not long before the estate became their favorite place and, in 1852, Prince Albert parted with roughly 30,000 to buy it outright.

The Royal Family had grown and it was abundantly clear that a new, larger, building was needed desperately. The new residence was to be much larger and named Balmoral Castle. The architect, William Smith from Aberdeen, designed the castle which was completed in 1856.

Ever since the Balmoral estate became the private property of Prince Albert it has remained the private property of the British Royal Family and is not considered part of the royal estate. Today the working estate consists of over 100 buildings spread over an area of some 50,000 acres of land.

In 1861 Queen Victoria suffered the death of her husband Prince Albert. Deep in grief the Queen chose to isolate herself and chose to spend more time than ever at Balmoral Castle where she and him had been so happy together. In 1997 Balmoral also witnessed the grief of another royal, Queen Elizabeth II. Diana, Princess of Wales, had died in France and when the queen was told she decided, much to the consternation of her public, to remain there rather than returning to London, which most people had expected her to do.

While the royal family can certainly afford the finest vacations it seems strange that they choose to visit what many would consider, rather plain places. There is a strong feeling towards Scotland and the current royal family often visit such remote Scottish places as the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. But it is the castle at Balmoral which we most associate with the royal family and their private times together.

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