One of the now-forgotten stories of Prince Philip’s last year of life was the fact that the Queen made Philip travel with her to Balmoral in the summer of 2020 and he hated every bloody minute of it. Philip had already been moved from Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate to Windsor Castle and he hated that. Then Liz forced everyone to go to Scotland. The HMS Bubble was struggling in the pandemic, so much so that Philip made everyone leave Balmoral early, and he refused to go back to Windsor. So Liz and Philip spent a good chunk of their “summer holiday” in Wood Farm. It was awful the way they carted around a 99-year-old man who just wanted to be left alone. Anyway, now that Liz is a widow, she’s happier than ever. She’s doing events and hanging out with horses, and now that she’s flying solo in Scotland, she wants to really let loose and have fun:
The Queen is ‘itching for things to get back to normal’ during her annual break at Balmoral and hopes to host a BBQ for the royal family at the castle, a source has claimed. The monarch, 95, is currently on her first summer holiday at the castle in Scotland without her husband Prince Philip – who died in April at the age of 99. Balmoral, and the land which surrounds it, is thought to be where the monarch and her late husband were at their happiest.
A source has now revealed the Queen wants to ‘crack on’ with her trip, telling The Sun: ‘The family barbecues are back on the agenda even without Philip there for the first time.’
It comes days after it was revealed Fergie has been invited to stay at the Queen’s Scottish retreat this summer.
‘Sarah Ferguson is coming,’ a source told Richard Eden. ‘She will be here with Andrew.’
The Queen is said to appreciate the loyalty that Sarah has demonstrated to the Royal Family since her divorce in 1996 and has been impressed by the close relationship she has maintained with Andrew, 61. The pair even share a home, Royal Lodge in Windsor. It’s not clear whether Fergie and Andrew will be joined by their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
It is understood the royal travelled to her Scottish home ‘out of season’ in May to privately grieve for her beloved husband.
The Queen is likely to remain at the 50,000-acre estate until early October and will be joined by family members throughout her stay.
What Liz enjoys more than family visits is hanging out with her favorite Scottish people and friends on her estate. When she and Philip went to Scotland last year, she apparently complained that it was all so boring because no one was coming to see her and everyone was social-distancing. She’s going to make Scottish people dance for her this time around. It’s what Philip would have wanted.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I’m sure she wants to get back to her routine. So does the rest of the world. But there is still a pandemic on. She can’t force everyone back to normal.
The queen has no idea when her last vacation will be because of her age + the pandemic and when she’ll be able to have everyone together so I think for just any occasion she will request that all be there with her if possible. That’s what I would do if I was Queen lol. I mean at the end of eveyrthing – queen or regular peasant, I suppose nothing will be more important than being with those we love inconditionally.
“…… I suppose nothing will be more important than…selfishly demanding that those we love conditionally, will do our bidding.”
There, fixed it for you.
They say you can’t take it with you. It doesn’t say anything about THEM. Die for me peasants. I wish to make merry!
Charles- mummy stop killing all the peasants! Who will I rule??
Yes, we know, the Queen is an inflexible old lady who has even less will to weather out a pandemic than most other people. I wish she wouldn’t try to make a virtue of it.
I hate saying this, but the older I get the more inflexible. 🙈
I am with you! I seem to be less flexible nowadays, but that could be my age or the fact I don’t take peoples BS anymore. I just call them out on it.
Agreed! I am so tired of people making excuses for her and justifying her bad behavior because she is old. Not to threadjack, but I am still amazed she has gotten off so scot-free in the Harry and Meghan debacle. She’s just as culpable as the rest of them IMO.
Thats Harry’s doing. He still has a blind spot when it comes to liz.
Ok. Royalists swear that the Royal Family is discreet about its wealth. This piece says that the Queen has at least four palatial homes and that she spends 3 months at her vacation home in Scotland during the summer. The Royal Family twitter page just posted about Balmoral as if everyone in the UK has the luxury to spend 3 months off at their summer home in Scotland. The Royal Family is woefully out of touch.
Yes, very discreet. Also discreet? A gold piano and countless diamond jewels, broaches, etc.
Crowns are also noted for their discretion. And I don’t care if that’s not their ‘personal’ wealth, it’s obscene.
Claiming a 95 year old is working is really bad. She’s off all the time! 95 yo don’t work! If she wants to spend all her time at Balmoral, fine. The entire way this is explained is really out of touch.
This 100%. She is effectively retired, and they should stop with this nonsense about her working hundreds of engagements a year by picking up the phone and making a call. The emperor wears no clothes!
Add to that, the future king and his consort are in their seventies, an age when many would have already been retired. I am sure they are itching to reduce their engagements and put their feet up on a nice footstool while sipping a gin and tonic and read the Fail and Dim at their leisure. Which is why Like and Subscribe should be at their most active in putting in this so called work in their most productive years. The problem they face is an aging monarchy.
I did see a piece last week about a 96 year old OR nurse finally retiring.
We’re not cicadas Liz. We don’t all have to come out at the same time.
EVERYONE is “itching for things to get back to normal.” But most of us realize that we’re going to be in this pandemic for a bit longer yet.
Sorry, but Elizabeth has never lived a normal day in her life. Just think.
They really are a mob family aren’t they? Fergie is being rewarded for her ‘loyalty’ (and discretion) with an invite to Balmoral. UGH.
I know…what loyalty? For sticking by Andrew’s wandering dong?
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if word got out after the queen dies that everyone currently under the age of 50 in that family actually hates Balmoral. Even if your an uptight aristocrat (which they almost all are) who loves the idea of traditional country pursuits and shooting local wildlife ( which mostly they all do), spending the summer in a musty old castle that probably hasn’t been updated since the 1940s and entertaining yourself via parlor games for weeks on end probably gets mind numbing after a while. In fact I would venture to guess the queen kinda gets this and is mandating that the family now come down there and get “back to normal” as punishment for the whole the queen can’t be alone narrative pushed out. To which I say for once. Well done your majesty!
We’re all itching to get back to normal. My family is fully vaccinated and we went out to dinner 2 Saturdays ago and I came down with something on Friday and was finally able to get a test this morning. No place had the self test kits in stock. I’m wearing a face mask 24/7 in my own house because my family isn’t showing symptoms.
@fluffy_bunny
But…but……this IS our new normal: wearing of masks; social distancing when possible; hand-sanitizing/washing frequently; getting the vax as soon as possible.
Thats it. All over the world.
Staying till October, itching for things to return to her idea of normal. Well for some not working for months and still living like. Queen is as far from normal as you can get Betty
50,000 acres? That’s bigger than Liechtenstein.
Santa Barbara COUNTY (inclu City of SB and Montecito) is 3,789 acres. But, but 16 bathrooms….
LOL, you know I thought the tabloids kept bringing up the 16 bathrooms as an example of excess luxury, but now I wonder if they mean it to pity how far Meghan and Harry have fallen. Buckingham has 78 bathrooms for 770+ rooms, and Windsor has 1,000 rooms with an equivalent percentage of bathrooms, and Balmoral has 150 different buildings, presumably with at least one bathroom in each. So, poor Harry, no wonder he secretly craves a return to the old home country – Meghan has him trapped in a hovel with only 16 bathrooms.
Maybe the Queen is tired of the “she’s in mourning” stories. She seems to be getting out there and doing things to dispute them.
In the wise words of my mother: Go scratch.
How dare people inconvenience her by getting sick and dying in a pandemic.
Wonder if she’ll try to force the servants to abandon their own families over Xmas again, for her.
Liz is ready for her first Hot Girl Summer