The Daily Telegraph

Weather dictates what Queen’s piper plays at Balmoral

- By India Mctaggart

THE royal piper decides what tune to play for the Queen every morning at Balmoral depending on the weather forecast, it has emerged.

The weather presenter Carol Kirkwood revealed she influences what the monarch hears each morning because the Queen’s Piper watches her present the day’s weather before playing.

Ms Kirkwood met the Queen at the Sandringha­m estate in Norfolk in 2012, when she was told the monarch’s piper decided what to play according to the weather she forecast.

Ms Kirkwood, 59, said the Queen had explained that her piper would tune into BBC Breakfast every morning.

The Royal Piper plays every day at 9am for 15 minutes under the monarch’s window when she stays at Balmoral, her 50,000 acre estate in Aberdeensh­ire.

Ms Kirkwood told Let’s Talk magazine: “The Queen has a good sense of humour and puts everyone at ease. I was introduced and shook her hand.

“[I was told] the royal piper at Balmoral watches me do the weather on the TV then decides what to play appropriat­e to the day’s forecast.”

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