Information about Balmoral Castle in Scotland and the history of Balmoral Castle:

Balmoral Castle Scotland is the Scottish home of the British Royal Family and can be found between Ballater and Braemar in Royal Deeside. During the spring and early summer months and some of the winter months of November and December parts of Balmoral Castle are open to the general public to tour. It has earned a 5 star visitor attraction from the Scottish Tourist Board

The name Balmoral Castle is taken from the Gaelic meaning Majestic Residence.

Visitors to Balmoral Castle can enjoy looking round the Ballroom of Balmoral Castle. It has been filled with items of interest such as Ballgowns worn by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second and the late Queen Mother and an exhibition of photos of the wildlife and landscapes of nearby Cairngorms National Park and Royal Deeside.

An audio tour of Balmoral Castle Scotland is available for a refundable deposit of £5.

More active tourists of Balmoral Castle can enjoy the marked walks and trails which lead to Royal Deeside and give some stunning views of the Scotland countryside. Parts of the Balmoral estate can also be viewed in a luxury Land Rover Safari which are driven by the Balmoral guides.

The gift shop at Balmoral Castle sells items such as unique gifts from the Balmoral Collection. There is a coffee shop open for visitors.

Opening Times For Balmoral Castle

The opening times for Balmoral Castle are from 10am until 5pm with a last admission time of 4:30pm. Balmoral Castle Scotland is open from the months of April to July and there are guided tours of Balmoral Castle in November which are advertised at the Balmoral castle website.

Prices for a visit to Balmoral Castle is £7 for an adult, £6 for OAPs and £3 for children. A family ticket for 2 adults and up to 4 children is £15. There are discounts for groups.

Included in the price of entry for Balmoral Castle Scotland is a free tractor trailer ride that takes visitors from the main gates to the carriage exhibition.

Guided tours of Balmoral Castle are available but pre booking is essential and there is an additional cost.

Disabled visitors can park within the Balmoral Castle grounds but drivers will need to visit the ticket office first to arrange parking. There are free disabled buggies and wheelchairs available to use courtesy of Smart Mobility and entrances are ramped. There are also disabled toilets and an audio loop system for the audio tour for the hard of hearing.

Balmoral Castle Holidays

There are a variety of Balmoral Castle holidays available ranging from residential painting holidays, walking holidays at nearby Loch Muick and Dubh Loch and photography holidays. Accommodation is in the staff accommodation and catering is provided for these residential courses. The walks are led by Alan Melrose who is a local trekker and has led expeditions to the Himalayas, Mongolia, Mount Kilimanjaro and the Andes. Nature lovers can get rare sightings of flocks of snow buntings, red deer and golden eagles.

A new Balmoral Castle Scotland holiday introduced in 2007 is the Wildlife Watch Holiday This accommodation includes the Queen’s Buildings which the Queen uses for overspill guests at Balmoral Castle when she is in residence. Prices include catering using the freshest of local ingredients.

Other Balmoral Castle holidays include renting self catering cottages within the Balmoral Estate.

Balmoral Castle History

The Royal Family have owned Balmoral Castle for over 150 years. It was purchased by Prince Albert for his wife Queen Victoria in the year 1852 though they had leased Balmoral Castle since 1848. Their first visit to the Highlands of Scotland was in 1842 and since then they actively looked for a Scottish retreat.

The original Balmoral Castle building was considered too small for their needs and a new Balmoral Castle was constructed soon after their purchase using Granite stone from the quarry Glen Gelder. This started a new era in the Balmoral Castle history. The architect was William Smith of Aberdeen and the second Balmoral Castle was build about 100 yards from the original so that the Royal Family and their servants had somewhere to stay during the building work. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone on the 28 September 1853. Into a bottle was placed a signed parchment with the date was placed in a cavity beneath the foundation stone along with several current coins of the realm. Building work was completed in 1856 and the original Balmoral Castle was demolished. A commemorative stone on the front lawn marks where the front door of the first Balmoral Castle would have stood.

Queen Victoria often called Balmoral Castle her paradise in the Highlands. Since her death Balmoral Castle has passed onto each British Monarch which have been King Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and from the House of Windsor: King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.

It's a Long Way to Tipperary: British and Irish Nurses in the Great War by Yvonne McEwen tells of the King giving the use of Balmoral Castle over to the War Office during the First World War. Balmoral Castle was used as a hospital for the treatment of wounded soldiers and sailors.

Balmoral Castle Scotland remains a favourite Scottish Castle retreat for the Royal Family including the Queen and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla Prince William and his friends such as Kate Middleton. They often fly into nearby Aberdeen airport at Dyce and visit Crathie Church for services.

Public events at Balmoral Castle include open air theatre performances, the Balmoral road race and falconry displays.

A section about the Balmoral Castle ghosts will follow soon after About Aberdeen have written more about the Balmoral Castle History.

We also run the www.findextrawork.co.uk website where there is information about earning more money from a range of part time and full time jobs which can be done at home or out and about. Visit for more information.

Balmoral Castle Ball

A Balmoral Castle Ball took place in June 2008 in aid of CLAN the Aberdeen Cancer charity. Over £25,000 was raised during the Midsummer Night's Ball.

Tsar Nicholas II Signed Photograph

In June 2007 a rare Tsar Nicholas II signed photograph went up for auction. The last emperor of Russia had signed a photo of himself at Balmoral Castle Scotland and by his signature he wrote the words Balmoral 1896. He had been staying at Balmoral Castle during a ten day visit to Scotland with his wife Alix. Her grandmother was Queen Victoria and the visit was made 18 months after their marriage and just before Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

It was expected to sell for about £2500 at the Christie auction at the Rockefeller Plaza New York, America. Over 100 other celebrity and famous photographs and signatures were sold during the auction at an estimated £500,000.

It was only the sixth signed picture of Tsar Nicholas II to have been sold at auction in the last 30 years and the final purchase price bid was £6,666.

Balmoral Walk

In June 2008 the annual Devoted To Life walk with the Marie Curie cancer care charity took place in the grounds of Balmoral Castle. Over £15,000 was raised for Marie Curie which beat the 2007 figure of £9,000 thanks to the Royal Deeside location for the 08 walk. The Devoted To Life walk and ramble is held in a different location each year. Permission was given to hold the Devoted To Life walk in the grounds of Balmoral Castle because Marie Curie charity is celebrating its diamond anniversary.

Official Balmoral Castle web site is www.balmoralcastle.com

Other pages of interest at AboutAberdeen include:

Ballater Queen Victoria Replica Royal Railway Carriage Model
Crathie Church
Balmoral Road Race
Balmoral Castle Concert
Scottish Castles

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