Today the King began his Scottish holiday and the royal family’s return to Balmoral by reviewing a guard of honor outside the main gates of the castle, a tradition dating back 175 years.
Balmoral’s future was uncertain following the death of the late Queen. Charles prefers to live in nearby Birkhall and there have been rumors he would be converting the main house into a museum in honor of his mother.
However, the king’s three-week stay suggests he may be keen to follow the family tradition of a summer stay at the castle, which Queen Victoria called ‘my dear paradise in the Highlands’.
King Charles inspects the Balaclava Company of the Royal Regiment of Scotland during a traditional guard of honor at Balmoral. The ceremony marks the start of the royal family’s two-month stay in Scotland
Queen Elizabeth II inspects a Royal Scots Balmoral Honor Guard in July 2004
King George VI inspects the honor guard on the station square in August 1949
The Duke of Edinburgh conducts the review in 1952
Victoria and her husband Prince Albert leased the property in 1848 without ever seeing the original castle. When they arrived on September 8, they were met by an honor guard from the 93rd Regiment.
After the opening of Ballater railway station in 1866, a guard of honor was formed to greet Victoria on her twice-yearly visits to the Balmoral, although she never considered it.
Another smaller ceremony was held at the castle with locals looking on.
When she arrived in May 1899, four days after her 80th birthday, she said to the well-wishers: ‘Thank you very much for your warm welcome.’ It is a pleasure to be with you again at my home in the Highlands.’
Their successors continued the tradition of an honor guard, which they personally began to inspect, walking along the line of soldiers standing at attention.
As a child, the future Elizabeth II saw her grandfather George V and then her father George VI. carried out the inspection. Her uncle, Edward VIII, was not particularly fond of Balmoral and photos of him surveying the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders show that he appeared less than enthusiastic upon his arrival in Scotland.
The future King Charles was a nine-month-old baby in the arms of his nanny Helen Lightbody when he witnessed his grandfather George VI. the 1st Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry surveyed at Ballater. Growing up, he and his sister Anne witnessed their mother perform the same ceremony.
The Queen arrives at the gates of Balmoral, where she also met an old friend, the mascot Cruachan IV, in 2019. Two years earlier, the pony had tried to eat her bouquet
Queen Elizabeth spoke to the Commander of the Guard before inspecting the Royal Honor Guard at Balmoral in August 1983
King George V arrives in Ballater at the beginning of his stay at Balmoral in 1933. He shakes the hand of Captain Campbell and commands the Cameronian Honor Guard (Scottish Rifles).
After the Aberdeen rail service closed in 1966, the ceremony was again held at the entrance to the castle. In recent years, Queen Elizabeth resided at the Craigowan Lodge estate while the castle was still open to the public.
On the day of her official arrival, she wore her usual matching coat and hat, as well as matching gloves, handbag and shoes. After checking out the troops and driving through the gates to the castle, she donned a kilt, blouse, cardigan and sturdy walking shoes, ready for two months of country living.
She last attended the ceremony just outside in 2021, when she inspected a Balaklava Company honor guard at The Royal, aged 95
Regiment of Scotland. Here she was reunited with her mascot, a Shetland pony with an honorary rank in the Army, Lance Corporal Cruachan IV. When they last met at Stirling Castle in 2017, Cruachan tried to bite her bouquet. The Queen jokingly told him, “Go away!” and told his handler, “They always try to eat the flowers.”
King Edward VIII and his brother, the Duke of York, later King George VI, at Balmoral in 1936
Queen Mary chats with Major Grant, who commanded the Queen’s Cameron Highlanders Honor Guard, on her arrival in Ballater in September 1928
Queen Elizabeth with the Royal Regiment of Scotland mascot the Shetland Pony at Balmoral in August 2021
In August 2022, the official arrival at the gates took place at the Castle’s door instead, as the Queen was too frail at the time to hold the ceremony in public. Land Rovers with troops could be seen entering and leaving the property.
The Queen would have been delighted that her successor was continuing the long-standing tradition of a formal welcoming ceremony. The same was true of Queen Victoria, who loved Balmoral so much that she didn’t like having to go south.
As Charles himself said, “She hated leaving, just as I hate leaving this beautiful place.”