Balmoral Castle, in Aberdeenshire, is getting a global close up as The Queen appoints the fifteenth Prime Minister of her reign at the Scottish residence.
Liz Truss accepted Her Majesty’s invitation to form a government in a short meeting at Balmoral, on September 6th 2022, the first time that the appointment of a Prime Minister has taken place at this royal home.
And it’s put all eyes on the castle, long beloved of the royals, and created by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a family retreat.
Victoria and Albert began to visit Scotland soon after their marriage. Regular trips became part of their summer and they began to look for a Scottish retreat. Prince Albert negotiated a lease of Balmoral, with the couple arriving there for the first time on September 8th 1848.
Victoria loved the place instantly, writing in her diaries that night ” It is a pretty little Castle, in the old Scotch style,” adding ”In front are a nice lawn & garden, with a high wooded hill behind, & at the back, there is a wood. The hills rise all around.”
Over the coming days, she wrote constantly of the charm and peace of the area, and it was clear the couple had found somewhere they wanted to call home. They began to negotiate the purchase of the whole estate but it took until 1852 to secure the deal.
But Victoria’s concerns over the size of the house prevailed and William Smith was commissioned to design and build a new castle near to the existing house. The queen and her husband, along with their expanding family, stayed in the old residence while the new one was constructed. Victoria laid the foundation stone of the new castle on September 28th 1853, noting in her diaries that ”I spread the mortar and the stone was lowered, when I struck it with the mallet and declared it well and truly laid. I also poured corn oil and wine upon the corner coppice and then we left.”
The new castle was ready by 1856 but whatever affection Victoria and Albert had for the original house on the site was put to one side. It was demolished as they made the new Balmoral their Scottish retreat.
Prince Albert didn’t have long to enjoy it. His death in 1861 plunged Victoria into deep mourning and Balmoral was often a retreat for her during her grief. It turned into a favourite home and it was here that she spent the weeks before both her Jubilees, departing its familiar walls to join the major celebrations in London in both 1887 and 1897.
Balmoral was always a personal property and in 1901, on Victoria’s death, it passed to her son and heir, now Edward VII. It has remained a family home ever since, passed from monarch to monarch but remaining a private property.
Now, almost exactly 174 years after Victoria and Albert first visit4ed Balmoral, their family retreat has, briefly, become the heart of Britain’s political landscape. It’s a fresh chapter for a castle that has a very special place in royal history.
