King Charles opens Balmoral to the public as new tour reveals secrets of Royal Family life
AN EXTRAORDINARY new royal tour inside Balmoral will give punters the chance to see the room where the Queen was last pictured before she died.
And a preview of the tour has revealed the King and Queen dine side-by-side so they can be “at the heart of their guests”.
The first “golden ticket” tourists will get the chance to peer behind the scenes of the Royal Family‘s Scottish castle tomorrow.
And The Sun on Sunday this week got a glimpse behind the castle revealing secrets of Royal Family life.
Charles, 75, decided to fling the doors open for the first time giving 3,400 lucky VIP ticket holders to “increase public awareness” of Royal estates.
It can be revealed that the 150-year tradition of a piper playing at Royal Family events in the main dining room is still maintained.
But the King and Queen – who will host the Royal Family and a selection of friends and guests this summer – sit together at the table rather than at either end.
Lucky ticket-holders will also get the chance to peer into the Drawing Room where the Queen posed for her final photograph in front of the castle’s only working fireplace.
But ghoulish punters will be banned from taking photos and the King has given the room a revamp with a new carpet in Hunting Stewart tartan and chintz curtains.
The King has also moved Queen Victoria’s chair, famously depicted in an episode of the Crown with Margaret Thatcher accidentally sitting down, into the Drawing Room.
Inside The Library, which is now used by Charles as his study when he is at Balmoral, sits a red leather and wooden chair, with a phone, wooden letter rack, silver ink pot and blotter – looking out over the sunken garden.
A statue of Prince Albert, which rotates on a plinth, sits above a rack of picnic blankets the family use on trips into the mountains.
Guests for the first time can gaze and decades of royal art and spectacular historical artefacts – usually only reserved for royal eyes.
Sarah Hoare, Curator, said: “We’re forever grateful to His Majesty the King, King Charles and Queen Camilla for giving us permission to start these tours.
“It’s their holiday home. There’s no state visit here. We don’t have state rooms. It’s their private home.
“I’ve worked here for 10 years and never seen inside a window or through a blind, so when I saw the interiors it gave me goosebumps.”
James Hamilton-Goddard, Visitor Enterprise Manager, said the tickets were sold out within two hours and guests will come from “all over the world”.
He added: “It’s a big deal. The King wanted it to happen, we’ve made it happen.”
Angie Marr, another guide, said: “This is the first time in history this has ever happened, you are the first members of the public to see this, so you’re seeing a moment in history today.”
The King, who is currently staying at nearby Birkhall, visited Balmoral on Thursday evening to inspect new signage in the gardens and is expected to return to the Castle on the eve of the first members of the public going inside.