WHY THE QUEEN COULD BE BALMORAL BOUND
‘She loves Scotland, it is where she is happiest and most relaxed’
THE Queen travels south today after spending nearly three months at her beloved Balmoral.
It is a place she is said to feel most at home, a quiet country refuge from the demands of being the longest reigning monarch.
And while the 91-year-old Queen is returning to carry on her duties at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle there has been a long-standing plan for her to spend more time at Balmoral.
Several years ago aides established that her Aberdeenshire retreat should be increasingly used by the monarch as she grows older.
They prepared the so-called “Scottish plan” to allow her to spend more time there and the details are continually being discussed.
Although the expectation is that she would visit Balmoral more often and have fewer official engagements, the Queen would continue to act as head of state.
A source said: “She loves Scotland, it has always been a great comfort to her, where she is happiest and most relaxed. She’s a different person up there. Everyone will play it by ear but the feeling is the Scottish plan will be what she wants to do.”
The Queen is believed to feel that “location is immaterial” and that she can work just as effectively as a monarch at Balmoral as she does at Buckingham Palace.
She is understood to have expressed her desire in the past to spend considerably more time at Balmoral – especially in the event of Prince Philip’s death. However far off that may be, plans for what the Queen will do when he is no longer there have been discreetly discussed.
Her private office and household staff work on a rota, meaning when she moves between residences she is always accompanied by key people. The source said: “She knows you can look through a red box [for Government papers], have an audience and host a reception anywhere.”
The plan comes as the Queen and Prince Philip, 96, are handing over more duties to the younger generations of the Royal Family.
Investitures at Buckingham Palace are increasingly carried out by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and the Princess Royal.
Prince Charles has also significantly increased his official overseas visits as the Queen no longer travels long-haul. She resides at Buckingham Palace for about six months of the year – from October to mid-December, early February to Easter and in May and June.
While in residence she spends three to four days a week working there and has her weekends at Windsor Castle, where she also conducts royal engagements. Her month-long Easter break is spent at Windsor, with a Christmas break taken from mid-December until early February at Sandringham.
The Queen is also in residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, for Holyrood week before heading to Balmoral for the summer break. It is not just a holiday home for the Queen who works through red boxes there every day. She also hosts visiting statesmen and the prime minister.
Balmoral Castle has been the Scottish home of the Royal Family since it was bought for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852, having been first leased in 1848.
The property remains privately owned by the Queen – as is Sandringham – and is not publicly funded.