The Cambridges will join the Queen at Balmoral for a summer holiday next month

Coronavirus - Sun Jul 5, 2020

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge really have NOT worked like Top CEOs this summer. They never do, but it’s especially evident every summer (and every winter, every spring and every autumn). If these were normal times, Will and Kate would have done a flurry of events in June, then made a couple of appearances at Wimbledon in July, and then we wouldn’t see much of them until October. They genuinely believe that’s the CEO-style, to go dark for nearly three full months every year. So during pandemic times, there’s no real difference – their Zoom Call Era is apparently over, and we’re in the Maskless Social Distancing Era of Top-CEOing. Which means that the “bespoke charity fund” photos will probably be the last we see of them this summer. They’re headed to Balmoral, same as the Queen.

The Queen will be going on her annual summer trip to Balmoral Castle in Scotland – and it’s set to be extra special this year as Kate Middleton, Prince William and their three kids will also join, according to a royal expert. Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl said that Prince Charles, 71, is “looking forward” to spending time with the Cambridges during a “family holiday” in Scotland in August after 5 months apart. She wrote: “Prince Charles will be on engagements in the south west of the country on George’s birthday, but is looking forward to spending time with all his grandchildren when the Cambridges head to Scotland for a family holiday next month.”

Buckingham Palace has confirmed the Queen and Prince Philip will head to Aberdeenshire in ‘early August’. The Queen, 94, and Duke, 99, have been self-isolating in Windsor Castle since March, but are now set to travel to Scotland next month.

Royal sources say the Queen will leave around August 1 by helicopter, when Covid restrictions on the over-70s will be lifted and the castle can reopen to tourists.

[From The Sun]

I think it’s weird that the Queen is going to Balmoral for her summer holiday like usual, when nothing about this year has been typical. And, I mean, is the environment that different? She’ll still have people waiting on her hand and foot in Balmoral, same as Windsor Castle. And if Will and Kate and the other royals want to visit her, couldn’t they have done it at Windsor instead of trekking up to Scotland? But I guess the Cambridges were due for a holiday too, the poor sausages. They’ve been so exhausted with all of the Zoom calls and tennis and gardening in Norfolk. One must get away from it all.

Also: the Katie Nicholl-VF piece referenced by the Sun was just this piece about George’s birthday. Kate and William organized a “staycation” in Norfolk and Kate did a “tea party” for George’s birthday with a homemade cake.

kate bespoke charity

william bespoke charity

Photos courtesy of KensingtonRoyal social media, Avalon Red.

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68 Responses to “The Cambridges will join the Queen at Balmoral for a summer holiday next month”

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  1. Girl_ninja says:

    Of course.

    Racist birds of a feather flock together.

    • PlainJane says:

      Yep. And that “animated” photo of Karen Keen looks like she is about to grab somebody’s hooters. Everything about them is such a YIKES!!! All the people with whom you wouldn’t want to spend vacation.

      M and H are so lucky to be out of there!

  2. Tessa says:

    I don’t think the Cambridges will stay there long they will go on a “real” vacation at some island.

  3. Harper says:

    Commercial jet again this year, dressed like the von Trapps?

    • Tessa says:

      and music in the background playing Climb Every Mountain.

    • Nic919 says:

      They will use the helicopter because a commercial jet is riskier right now. Not ricking getting the virus from peasants this year.

      Also I believe that many islands in the Caribbean are open to tourists so I bet there is a quiet visit to Mustique shortly.

      • fluffy_bunny says:

        There were no peasants on that budget airline flight they staged. It was an empty plane.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Last year they only stayed 2-3 days. Flew up on the stunt ‘commercial’ flight, papped at Church, flew back.

  4. Becks1 says:

    Of course the Cambridges will go to Balmoral so they can get their “going to church with the queen” photo op (or a shot of them driving on the estate or something) but I always wondered how long they go for. My impression is they just go for a long weekend or something.

    I don’t think we will see them again officially until September (minus William’s racist podcast appearance today) but maybe Kate will surprise me. I would not be surprised if they have some events “banked” and will sort of release them one a week or something. (since I feel like so few of their events have been released in “real time,” usually its a few days or a week later.)

    • Tessa says:

      I wonder if they will have the pretentious Dynasty photo leaving out the spares and just George being shown. Would not put it past them.

    • Lady D says:

      I bet Harry could really screw with their vacation schedule if he wanted to. Announce a project here and there throughout the summer and into fall, just to keep K&W home to counter his popularity with their own projects. He could probably ruin their summers, and hijack Christmas vacations just by being in the country. They would have to announce project after project, just to keep up. They better hope he never becomes bitter.

      • MerlinsMom1018 says:

        @Lady D
        100%.
        Because I am not a nice person, if I were Harry I would be the itch that Wills just couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard he tries and show up at the most inopportune times.
        Of course Harry is a much nicer person than me, so…

      • Mary says:

        LOL, @Lady D, I came here to say that we will see William and Kate at least once more, after the Travalyst Summit tomorrow!!!

    • Carolind says:

      I live in Scotland and always get the impression the Cambridges just visit for a couple of days. They do not like Scotland the way the Queen and Charles do.

  5. Becks1 says:

    oh I will add I think she is going to Balmoral because they are opening up Windsor for tourists, and I’m not sure if she is typically there when it is open? Or even if she is in normal times, they are getting her away as a precaution.

    Also, the Queen goes to Balmoral every year for her summer vacation, and I’m sure she doesn’t see a reason to change that this year.

    I do wonder why she and Philip quarantined at Windsor and not Sandringham or Balmoral. Proximity to healthcare if one got sick?

    • BayTampaBay says:

      and proximity to the Government in London if needed?????

    • Elizabeth says:

      It’s bad enough they changed one thing in this family where everything is supposed to follow a schedule set up 200 years ago. Change something big like Balmoral and the Queen may completely stroke out.

    • candy says:

      Because Windsor is an official residence. I believe the others are private and used for her vacations, technically she is not “on duty” at these other estates. Philip actually did go to Sandrigham where he basically lives with his sidepiece, Lady Brabourn.

      • Becks1 says:

        I thought Phillip came FROM Sandringham to Windsor to quarantine with the Queen, which was weird to me since he does normally live FT at Sandringham. But your point about the personal vs official makes sense, there may be different staffing needs at each residence or something.

      • candy says:

        Ahhh, that makes sense. I bet once they had to do a roll out of them quarantining at Windsor, they had to bring Philip back to make it look like they are together.

      • Carolind says:

        Lady Brabourne is now Countess Mountbatten. Earl Mountbatten’s daughter who became Countess after he died, died herself about three years ago.

    • Nicole says:

      Interesting because I had tickets for Buckingham Palace in August and was informed months ago that it would not be open to the public for the 2020 season. I know things change but it seems odd they would go back on that decision or perhaps it’s just for Windsor

  6. Mignionette says:

    This family needs to be abolished.

    Instead of showing some sort of contrition for their pointless feuding shenanigans, at a time of immense social and economic hardship for many across the world, they double down on their stupidity to show their ‘united front’ of racism, class-ism and sexism against a woc on the other side of the world, who is currently living her best life.

    Let’s hope thunder literally visits Immoral Castle statue of liberty style….

    • February-Pisces says:

      I was just thinking, the queen deserves to see her empire crumble. We are still on her watch and it’s hard to defend her at this point. She could have done something to stop this, but she didn’t. She deserves to live through seeing the monarchy abolished.

  7. Juniperus says:

    Thank Christ. They’ve been working themselves to the bone.

    🙂

  8. TheOriginalMia says:

    Well, they are the heir couple. Gotta do the annual sucking up to Betty. I hope she makes them stay at Balmoral for a week or more. It’s what they deserve. Love how they tacked on Charles spending time with his grandkids when there’s no indication he’ll even be around when they are at Balmoral.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      I am sure Karen Keen has no problem going to Scotland in order to get William away from his Rose gardening for bit.

      • TheOriginalMia says:

        Ha! You’re right. She’ll cosplay the hell out of being a dutiful wife to keep his wandering peen from Norfolk. She does realize that what Willie wants, Willie gets?

  9. Flamingo says:

    I don’t find it that odd that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip are going. They are incredibly old and there is a good possibility that this will be the last time they’ll be able to go together and it seems like they both really enjoy spending time there. I don’t know anything about their health, but I do know several older people who have gone to a favorite place one last time as they were nearing the end. My grandfather spent insisted on going to his lake cottage one last time. As for the rest of the bunch, I’m not quite sure why they need to go in the middle of a pandemic.

  10. Enny says:

    With “ALL his grandchildren,” huh? 😒😒😒

    • HeatherC says:

      Well all the white ones. I expect a “candid” shot of him with the Cambridge kids to be released.

      • Carolind says:

        Really not fair to accuse Charles of being racist. Absolutely no evidence. He has many faults but no-one can say he did not welcome Meghan with open arms.

    • Priscila says:

      Jeez, they let it slip-oops.

    • Mich says:

      That also caught my eye.

    • C-Shell says:

      I know I’ve gotten hypersensitive about all the micro and macro aggressions we know about and have reviewed again in recent days, but *that* phrase leaped out and just made me furious. I doubt Charles feels that way, but for sure the Cambridges will keep hammering that point home at every opportunity. Archie, bless his sweet heart, will (hopefully) be oblivious to all this, enjoying the loving attentions of Doria, H & M, for many years.

    • HeyJude says:

      THIS! What TF?!

      And I’m sure Charles won’t reach out to make her clarify that comment.

      Poor Archie. So many older folks would love to have another sweet little grand baby to dote on, and yet he gets 2 total rotten apples for grandpaps.

      I hope he has some kind of surrogate grandpa figure.

      • Enny says:

        @HeyJude – well, hopefully Charles will get his act together sooner rather than later, cause one day he’ll be king, and one day Archie will know that his grandpa is the King of GB&NI and isn’t in his life… And surrogate grandpa figure or not, H&M & Doria or not, that’s a lot for a little guy to process…

    • Vera says:

      I noticed that too, I thought he had more than 3 grandkids, although i might be mistaken (sarcasm)

    • Lilpeppa says:

      Yep, this jumped out. Was very obviously done.

  11. Solace says:

    Kate’s squinted eyes and hand gestures…dear lord 😂
    It reminds me of Will Ferrel in Talladega Nights when he is speaking to the camera and doesn’t know what to do with his hands😁

  12. aquarius64 says:

    Balmoral is damage control because Finding Freedom did damage to the Cambridges’ image. Let’s ask Andrew how photo ops with the queen helped him, especially when new information surfaces.

    • L84Tea says:

      That’s exactly what this is.

    • HeyJude says:

      Balmoral might damage control of another kind too- hunkering down with the next 2 in line and figuring out what to do when Andrew info is released as the Ghislaine prosecution moves forward and more info from the victim’s lawsuits comes out. Which is happening soon IIRC reading about recent judges rulings.

      • FicklePickle says:

        I dunno…these people are so resistant to talking about ‘business’ together that they had to form a special club called the Way Ahead Group (ONLY family members) to meet quarterly to discuss problems the monarchy is facing and what changes, if any, to make. They might just ignore it all until their ‘vacation time’ is over.

  13. Lucylee says:

    Great news!!!! Their subjects are struggling while they vacation at $100+million castle.

  14. Busyann says:

    Meh, I can’t fault them too much with having a vacation. This year has sucked and most people, I bet, are itching for a vacation. Even Royals.

    I still dont like them though.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      The BRF (excluding Anne & Charles) is on permanent vacation only taking short breaks to catch air flights for photo-op work.

      • Lizzie says:

        Oh i bet they have loads of staff filling in. You know, checking in with patronages and working to keep people who are out of work fed. Oh wait, sorry wrong duke and duchess. I’m sure piers morgan and co are the only ones who will care.

  15. Marivic says:

    So what if all the Cambridge ilk go to Balmoral? What’s so special about that ? Boring …

  16. Lizzie says:

    Go live with the queen, no one cares.

    • BayTampaBay says:

      That’s the last place I would want to go live unless I was one nose-hair away from being homeless.

  17. Jaded says:

    I wonder if the Pedo Prince will show up at Balmoral and do the church walk after all the Epstein stuff gets released? There’s nothing Petty Betty can do to polish that turd of a human being, and in fact if he DOES show his filthy face there it’s going to reflect very badly on her. Go ahead Betty…shoot yourself in the foot again.

  18. candy says:

    I am always so jealous when the royals get to go to Balmoral. I have always dreamed of visiting Scotland and especially the Cairngorms. Let alone stay in a beautiful country castle.

    • Vera says:

      There is a wonderful and fairly affordable place we stayed twice before (was planning this year again, but then the pandemic hit) that I can recommend. It is a converted monastery / abbey on the shore of Loch Ness. It is called the Highland Club and it is converted to self catering apartments, managed by several managing agents. The prices range around £600pw for the smaller ones low season to £1500pw for the 2 bed ones high season. The location and the setting is stunning and it’s a good base to get around.

    • Carolind says:

      I live in the north of Scotland near the Cairngorms. The scenery is breathtaking. I also love the US though. We were on a tour right across it 6 years ago and have been to NYC another couple of times.

  19. L4frimaire says:

    Hopefully we won’t hear anything of this crew for the next 3 months. Also, opening the castle to tourists? Is that a good idea with the virus still out there and two elderly people in residence. You know there will be the poor Harry, can’t see granny and his family this summer, oh no, evil Meghan, oh no!

    • candy says:

      They probably can’t forgo the revenue, especially with the closures to date and layoffs.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        @Candy – So true, the Crown needs the money for “household” staff as receipts of palaces open to the public are way way down to point of having to layoff career Yeomen Warders or “Beefeaters” at The Tower of London.

    • Carolind says:

      If Balmoral is open the Queen will not be staying at the Castle. In these circs and other circs, she stays in a Lodge house.

  20. Mariane says:

    lol they released this for damage control after recent stories from finding freedom exposed their disgusting behaviour which lead to harry fleeing with his family. I agree that they’ll only stay to take pictures riding with queen to church and maybe shooting then go off to their private island or maybe the French alps

  21. Marni112 says:

    I don’t think K or W have ever made it a regular habit to go to Balmoral in August but if they do, who cares?The Queen is 94 and the Duke 99 and they won’t live forever .Also the Queen and Duke have likely not had much actual contact with family given Covid .So at their ages , I give them a complete pass .

  22. yinyang says:

    In the midst of covid no one around here is allowed to go on vacay, but I guess when you’re isolated from the real world the rules don’t apply to you.

  23. Dl says:

    I wonder if botch keen Katie and PWT realize they have something all over their noses and it smells.

  24. Lelu says:

    When they host these keen meetings, why does everyone only ever get one sad little glass of water?