Ever since childhood, as a young mother and then as a grandmother and great-grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II found comfort and peace in her favourite place on Earth, Balmoral Estate in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. So it seems fitting that the much-loved monarch “died peacefully” at the age of 96 on 8 September 2022 with her two eldest children, Prince Charles, now King Charles lll, and Princess Anne, by her side in this beautiful and historic castle.

As Balmoral was passed to the Queen upon King George VI’s death, it stands to reason Charles inherited Balmoral as the new monarch. However, he also has his own private bolthole nearby called Birkhall. A short distance away from the Balmoral Estate, The River Muick streams alongside Birkhall, making it a great spot for fishing and enjoying the stunning natural landscape.

His stays at Birkhall make sense as it has been rumoured that the King, seen here planting a tree with his mother at Balmoral in 2021 as part of The Queen's Green Canopy campaign, may be considering the possibility of converting Balmoral Castle into a site open to the public. Refashioned as a museum in memory of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away there on 8 September 2022. Various personal artefacts and items of clothing worn by the monarch at significant points in her 70-year reign could potentially feature in exhibits, reports The Mirror.

Seen here in May 1961, Birkhall has been very important for Charles; he spent his honeymoon there with the Queen Consort in 2005 and was in residence when he became one of the first high-profile people to test positive for COVID-19 in 2020. We're sure it was the perfect place for some R&R. Plus, if his plans are to come to fruition, he will need a place to stay while Balmoral is open to the public. What historical secrets await? Let's take a tour...

Balmoral Castle has been the Scottish home of the Royal Family since it was bought for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852 for £32,000 ($38.5k). Soon after they decided the existing house was too small, so commissioned the current Balmoral from architect William Smith. Prince Albert became personally involved in the design, suggesting changes to bring the plans up to the royal standard. The new castle was completed in 1856. 

Britain’s longest-serving monarch will forever be associated with the 50,000-acre estate where she breathed her last and which she described as a "paradise in the Highlands". The monarch would usually travel to her beloved home to mark the start of her traditional summer break in July when she would be welcomed by a small ceremony outside the castle gates. Here she is inspecting a Guard of Honour in 2021. 

The late Queen and Prince Philip spent almost every August and September in Balmoral over the years until the sad passing of the Duke on 9 April 2021. Significantly, it was a picture of Her Majesty with the Duke at the top of the Coyles of Muick on the royal estate, taken by the Countess of Wessex in 2003, that was chosen to share on the official royal Instagram to thank everyone for the messages of condolence she had received on his death. No wonder it held a special place in her heart.

Today, the castle is a fine example of Scottish baronial architecture and is classified as a category A-listed building. It's open to the public between the months of April and July, when guests can stroll through the gardens and look around the castle's grand ballroom. It does not belong to The Crown Estate like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, which means it is personally owned by King Charles lll.

Balmoral offers breathtaking views of the highland landscape and has a bounty of natural wonders to marvel at with forests, valleys, arable pastures and beautiful gardens. There are also 150 buildings on the estate, including Birkhall, the much-loved estate of the new King, Craigowan Lodge, and several other cottages. 

As the late Queen advanced in age, she opted to spend a lot more time at Craigowan Lodge, the stone cottage where she liked to stay when the castle was open to the public. According to the Scottish Daily Express, a new hi-tech security system was completed in July 2022, and the installation of a Stiltz Lift at the seven-bedroom house was intended to address the mobility issues that had affected her in her final months.

To help towards the upkeep of the castle, the King allows holidaymakers to rent the quaint cottages and larger lodges for their own Balmoral vacation. This includes Garbh Allt Shiel, where Queen Victoria sometimes spent the night. Pictured here, Connachat Cottage sleeps up to eight people and is situated about three miles west of the Castle, near the River Dee. The cottage is reportedly available throughout the year, with the exception of some weeks during the royal visit.

The impressive front lawn has been the setting of many events over the years and visitors can see the plaque that commemorates where the front door once stood from the original castle. The gardens, which were established by Prince Albert, have been improved by various members of the royal family. Prince Phillip added a kitchen garden with a vegetable patch that is harvested during the royals' summer holiday. 

The main uses of the land surrounding the castle are; deer stalking, grouse shooting, forestry and farming. Here are Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visiting some of the livestock in 1972. Balmoral offered a much more rural way of life than any of her private royal residences or Windsor Castle, which became her main residence in the latter stages of her life. 

Queen Elizabeth loved the freedom of Balmoral and enjoyed horseback riding or driving her beloved Range Rover across the rugged terrain during her summer break. The rest of the family is said to enjoy fishing, hunting, picnicking and barbecuing.

Inside, the Queen filled Balmoral with all the comforts of a regular home and it's a place where she would welcome visiting dignitaries for a private audience in a relaxed environment. A rare glimpse inside her library shows an electric convection heater for the cold winters and a Samsung TV complete with a Sky box. Even Her Majesty didn't want to risk missing any episodes of her favourite programmes. 

The desk and red leather chair that she had used since the 1970s still remains in the library, where the Queen, seen in this 1976 photograph, did her work. The crown motif fabric from the sofa has now been used to cover cushions for the armchairs. It is estimated the library holds around 50,000 books and manuscripts collected by British monarchs over the centuries.

Even though the layout and some of the furniture have changed over the years, her desk remains in the same spot and was used for official business until the very end. Some of the books themselves are said to have been in the same position on the shelves for 40 years and include the work of Sir William Fraser, a solicitor and notable expert in ancient Scottish history, palaeography and genealogy.

The drawing room, where the late Queen would welcome official guests, has traditional décor that hasn't changed much over the years. The white figurine candlestick holders on the mantelpiece date back to the reign of Queen Victoria in the mid-1800s. The national flower of Scotland, the Thistle, decorates the inside of the fireplace.

In this image from 1976, a painting of Queen Victoria with John Brown, a personal attendant and close confidant, at Osborne House, painted by Sir Edwin Landseer, takes pride of place on the wall to the right of the fireplace. It remains there to this day. 

The two-seater sofas are all covered in the same green fabric and finished with traditional skirting. Unlike other rooms in the castle, which boast Royal Tartan carpets, this room has been modernised with a cleaner, plainer look. This image, taken in 2005, shows how the monarch left the décor virtually unchanged. The fern-patterned chairs and wallpaper remain the same to this day.

The estate is enormously popular with the entire Royal Family, who have joined the Queen here over the summer through the years. Princess Diana and the then Prince Charles spent a portion of their honeymoon at Balmoral in 1981, staying at Craigowan Lodge, a rustic stone cottage, not far from the castle, which the monarch used in her latter years.

The royal family tend to travel by plane to Balmoral by chartering their own private aircraft, by helicopter or using the Royal Air Force VIP Voyager usually from Aberdeen Airport. However, this small BAe 146 jet carried the Queen Mother for one of her last visits to Scotland in 2001. Poignantly, the late Queen left Balmoral for the last time in an oak coffin draped in the Royal Standard for Scotland as bright sunshine broke through the morning mist. 

The Queen was always joined by other members of the family, although the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now living in the States haven't visited for a while. Meghan is known to have enjoyed a stay there shortly after her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018, according to The Sunday Times, when she and Harry spent a few days with the Queen at Balmoral Castle.  

Visiting the Queen at Balmoral was a tradition that had been carried on by the younger generations, too. Here's a family photograph of seven of the Queen and Prince Philip's great-grandchildren in Balmoral, taken by the then Duchess of Cambridge in 2018. The late Queen has Prince Louis on her knee and is flanked by Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Never happier than when at the races, the Queen was discussing her beloved horses right up until the end, according to her trusted racing adviser John Warren, who spent the weekend before her death making plans with her and discussing their shared passion. “It’s very important to know that she was absolutely, wonderfully switched on,” he says in Hello!. He spoke with her on the Tuesday evening, commenting: “I can hardly believe that within less than 48 hours the Queen had died.”

The final photographs of the Queen were taken a couple of days before her death in the drawing room of Balmoral Castle. Though frail and bearing a dark bruise on the back of her right hand, she looked alert and cheerful. After a long period of ill health and "mobility problems", her secret battle with myeloma, a form of bone marrow cancer, was revealed—though not confirmed by the palace—in a new biography, An Intimate Portrait, by royal author Gyles Brandreth.

Busy right up to the last, the Queen was determined to carry out her duty to appoint Liz Truss as the new Prime Minister, following the resignation of Boris Johnson. According to Brandreth, the Queen knew her time was running out and suggests the bruise on the back of her hand may have been caused by an intravenous cannula, administering medication, to get her through that important final day of duty.

Although already in the UK, Prince Harry was still in the air to Aberdeen when the formal announcement of the Queen’s death came at 6.30 pm. There had been some confusion about whether Meghan would join him but she appeared to follow Catherine’s lead and stayed behind in London. Royal author, Brandreth also says in his book that the Queen liked Meghan and did everything she could to make her feel welcome, although she felt Harry was “a little over-in-love” with her.  

Balmoral Castle posted this poetic photograph of the castle on its Instagram on the day of Queen Elizabeth's death with the words, "The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon." As the flowers and tributes came pouring in, it seemed right and fitting that the monarch should pass away at the place she loved best in the world.

Pictured here on the estate with Prince Philip in 1972 in the year of their Silver Wedding anniversary, it was the Queen's favourite corner of the world. “It’s the most beautiful place on Earth. I think Granny is most happy there,” her granddaughter Princess Eugenie said, speaking on the ITV programme, Our Queen at Ninety. Now it looks like we can all enjoy it too in her honour. Rest in peace Your Majesty.

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