There are always theories and conspiracies going around about why certain stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are blown up to a crazy degree by the media. I tend to believe that the Windsors and the British government use the Sussexes as cover, especially in the case of Prince Andrew. But a curious thing happened last month: the Sussexes were used as cover to hide A LOT of shenanigans involving Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Philip had no interest in traveling to Balmoral over the summer and he apparently threw a massive fit about it. The Queen had to cut her Scottish holiday short and she and Philip went to Wood Farm for several weeks. Now she’s back at Windsor Castle, in the bubble, and Philip… did not go with her. He just wants to live at Wood Farm in the company of Penelope Knatchbull. Apparently, the Queen was and is fine with it. But now comes the PR!
The Queen and Prince Philip found their summer break in Balmoral ‘a bit tedious’ this year, with social distancing rules due to coronavirus making it less enjoyable, a royal expert has claimed. The 94-year-old monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, spent six weeks at their Aberdeenshire home before cutting their trip short to travel to Sandringham last month. The couple spent a further two weeks on the Norfolk estate before her Her Majesty returned to Windsor Castle on Tuesday – with Philip remaining on Wood Farm, where he usually resides since retiring from public life in 2017.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Camilla Tominey told how their move from Scotland to the ‘pared-down’ Sandringham farmhouse was largely as a result of Balmoral ‘becoming a little tiresome without the typical steady stream of visitors’. Despite receiving visits from Princess Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Wessexes, it ‘simply wasn’t as enjoyable as usual’ because of the Covid-19 restrictions in place.
An insider told Tominey: ‘It was a bit tedious at times – not just for the staff, but the royals themselves. Balmoral can sometimes be a little hard going, but coronavirus made things even more difficult. There was quite a lot of time spent sat around, twiddling thumbs.’
The visit saw the Queen’s team of staff – nicknamed HMS Bubble – forced to self-isolate for a fortnight before travelling up to the Scottish Highlands, and banned from social activity once in residence. Usual highlights including the annual Ghillies Ball were all cancelled due to the pandemic, meaning they had ‘little to occupy themselves while off duty’, wrote Tominey.
She added that a further source told how ‘everyone got pretty bored’ and the Queen and the Duke went to Wood Farm ‘simply for a change of scenery, more than anything else’.
What must it be like to be the Queen and believe yourself infallible. To be so set in your ways that you force dozens of staffers to isolate for weeks just so you can… sit around and be bored. Everyone said the Queen should just stay at Windsor but she didn’t listen. She just HAD to go to Balmoral in a pandemic for no reason and then she and Philip just had to complain about how it was all so dreadfully boring. Yes, that’s definitely the reason! It had nothing to do with Philip being sick of his wife and sick of being moved around and not being able to be Penelope’s company. I bet Liz and Phil had some crotchety old-person blow-out fights this summer, my God.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
The Queen is just a terrible person. Don’t get me wrong, Philip is too but he’s not portrayed in the press as a sweet, little inoffensive person who’s sole purpose is duty and service to her country. She’s an old rich woman who only cares about herself and Andrew. And all those stories about Harry disrespecting her or letting her down are nonsense.
They could have binge-watched The Crown, as I did, for a wee stroll down memory lane.
God, these wastrels are worthless. I can imagine, now, how the staff mutiny came about … after jumping through flaming hoops for this lot to have their annual jaunt to Balmoral, to then be told they’d have to do it again for the annual Christmas At Sandringham. I’d revolt too.
Aww, poor Liz and Phil.
Bored? Really? Tough hop. The rest of the world is struggling to make ends meet, not being able to see their loved ones in person, etc. etc.
Maybe Liz should have filled up her time by handing Andrew over the Scotland Yard/FBI.
You know, have several palace servants prepared you both a lovely, gourmet meal at which you can wear all your jewelry and 2 crowns and right after pudding….whistle for the actual Law to haul off your rapist son.
Ugh.
I’m not going to shed too many tears over awful, racist Philip being deprived of Penelope or whoever for a few weeks, tbh,
Travelling to Balmoral and Sandringham wasn’t necessary if usual activities were cancelled due to the pandemic. The staff have had to self-isolate from their families for no good reason, just for serving people who didn’t even end up having a good time anyway. They love to say “we’re all in this together”, when clearly they find it very difficult to make the sacrifices everyone else has had to make. But according to the press, we are apparently “looking to the royal family more than ever” during this time. Sure.
After the past 7 months, going to a Scottish castle and just hanging out and going for hikes and such sounds pretty great. And I imagine many people in the UK are going to feel the same way. So basically….complaining about it being too boring is not a good look.
Also, the Cambridges were able to go with no one knowing? Does that mean they took a private plane??!?!?! No FlyBe for them this year??
my conspiracy theory is that the cambridges actually went to mustique or some other tropical locale, but released it that they went to balmoral knowing nobody at bp would deny it.
a) they were both really tanned in early september
b) the paps somehow got pics of the wessexes and eug/jack at balmoral, and they got pics of the cambridges there last year, so why wouldn’t they this year, if they were there?
I agree with your conspiracy theory, whether Mustique or somewhere else, or even just NOT balmoral, because the Cambridges would 100% have a pap shot to show that they were there – if for no other reason than to stick it to the Sussexes. “Look, they’re a country away, but we are loyal to the queen and we love Scotland and we are the true royals!!”
Good conspiracy theory. Those tans wouldn’t have come from Scotland in August. Has anyone been tracking the Duke of Westminster private jet? That has been W&K’s fav jet for sneaky travel for years.
My sentiments about hanging out at a Scottish castle exactly!
@notasugarhere ‘Those tans could not have come from Scotland in August’ said clearly by someone who has never lived in Scotland *roll eyes*.
Please don’t talk about a country you don’t really know anything about.
Nothing, not even a global pandemic, is allowed to disrupt Lizzie’s planned vacations. In 2014, the other royals attended ceremonies around the country to commemorate the start of WW1 but Lizzie went off to Balmoral as planned and left them to it. None of the other royals seem able to have weddings, christening etc during Aug or Sept as she won’t interrupt one of her many holidays.
I have absolutely no sympathy for her. She should have stayed at Windsor and not disrupted the lives of her staff unnecessarily. I’m sure a 99 year old like Phillip could have done without making the journey too.
Boo hoo, I’m in my vacation castle with nothing to do!
” Only boring people are bored.”
Haha @Julie I came to write the same thing 😆
Yes! That was my reaction, you really can’t find a way to entertain yourself? Come on! It backs up the image of Petty Betty from The Crown as having nothing about her other than ‘duty’.
Not to be rude but aren’t most old people are bored? And by old I only mean retired and no kids in the house. I think Camila has been talking about seniors who are isolated.
My dad, who is about he same age as Lizzie, has to spend almost every hour of every day in his room at his nursing home and can only speak to/see family members through a pain of glass. He’s SUPER bored. Bet he’d love to be able to roam about the Scottish countryside. Or, you know, GO outside. Whining about being bored at your massive estate is a bad look. It’s Ptomaine reporting, so huge grain of salt, but this is a bad look for the RF.
“Ptomaine” is an excellent autocorrect for “Tominey”. Let’s call her that from now on.
Wasn’t an autocorrect. 😉
But the narrative in the Kingdom of Great Brittleness is the mixed race royals are entitled whiners. Smh.
So much time spent sitting around twiddling their thumbs because they could not hold their Gillies Ball and other parties, teas, dinners and summer parties??!!!
Hello? Marie-Antoinette anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
I don’t understand how Balmoral (even in covid) could be any different than it ever is for them. Don’t they just take walks, host family, shoot things and eat meals that other people serve them? It sounds like it would have been exactly the same. The “bored” comment actually doesn’t sound right-almost like someone is trying to give them bad press. (Don’t get me wrong-they deserve all kinds of bad press for how they’ve handled Pedophile Andy and gaslighting H & M. But this?)
I think a lot of people would prefer to sit in a Scottish castle for a few months and not do anything.
They should have watched Tiger King.
Haha! Can you imagine the conversation at afternoon tea? “Your Majesty, what are your thoughts on Carol Baskin? Did she off her first husband?”