Where does the British royal family spend their summer vacation?

Each summer, the British royals step down their rounds of public engagements, high-profile events and charitable commitments to embark on a summer vacation away from their usual home bases.

For different royals these breaks have seen them disperse into different locations. Princess Margaret famously favored the Caribbean island of Mustique for her breaks, while King Charles III has taken annual trips to the Eastern European country of Romania.

However, there is one location in the British royal travel guide which has become the centerpiece of their summer calendar, once reportedly described by Queen Victoria as “heaven on earth.”

Here, Newsweek takes a look at how Britain’s most famous family spend their summer vacations.

Royal Favorite

Balmoral Castle in the highlands of Scotland is widely considered to be the British royal family’s official summer vacation home.

The grey-stone, turreted castle is set within 50,000 acres of land, including rolling moorland and forests, prime for sports such as hunting, shooting and fishing.

The family have traditionally visited the castle in August when the youngest members are on school and college vacations.

Nearly exclusively during her reign, Queen Elizabeth II would spend the entire months of August and September at the castle and some of early October before returning to London and her royal engagements.

During this time, the castle would famously play host to the queen’s children, grandchildren and friends for short visits. Charles followed his mother’s tradition in the summer of 2023, though he took up residency for a shorter amount of time.

Though the monarch may reduce their public appearances during their summer at Balmoral, they do not stop working. Red boxes containing government papers are sent to the castle every day for the sovereign to work on. There is also an annual visit from the prime minister and their spouse for a weekend stay.

Who Built Balmoral Castle?

There has been a castle on the Balmoral estate since the 14th century, though it was not widely known until 1852 when Victoria and Prince Albert purchased it after falling in love with the Scottish countryside.

The rolling hills and wild moorland is said to have appealed to Albert for being as close to the geography of his homeland Germany as it was possible to get in Great Britain.

The royal couple expanded the estate by buying up land in its surrounding areas, and demolished the old castle, building a completely new structure in a neo-medieval style with a main turret flanked by gallery ranges.

Victoria and Albert purchased the estate using their private funds and so it remains private property passed from one member of the royal family to the next. The estate was inherited by King Edward VIII when his father King George V died in 1936.

When Edward abdicated the throne to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, a delicate deed of sale had to be negotiated so that the property that had become so strongly linked with the monarchy would transfer to his brother, the new King George VI.

Elizabeth inherited the estate in 1952 and Charles took possession upon her death 70 years later.

What Historic Events Happened at Balmoral Castle?

A number of historic events occurred while the royal family were in residence at Balmoral Castle for the summer.

In 1896, the castle played host to a state visit from Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra of Russia. The empress was a granddaughter of Victoria and the monarch presided over a ball held in their honor while several other celebratory events took place.

In August 1997, the world’s attention turned to Balmoral as Prince William and Prince Harry were staying with their grandmother, Elizabeth, when news broke that their mother, Princess Diana, had died in a Paris car crash.

Media and public anger was directed at the monarch in the immediate aftermath of the princess’ death, as she was urged to leave Scotland to publicly grieve in London. This period was dramatized in the 2006 movie, The Queen.

Attention was once more turned to the estate when in September 2022, Elizabeth died at the age of 96 while staying at the castle.

The new king, Charles, spent time with his mother in her final hours, and she became the first British monarch to die in Scotland since the Act of Union, which combined the thrones of England and Scotland in 1707.

Elizabeth left Balmoral in a funeral cortege which took her first to the city of Edinburgh and then by plane to London.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III and Queen Camilla, William and Princess Kate, Meghan Markle and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.