You could soon tour Balmoral Castle for the first time – for £100

Members of the public will be able to take tours of Balmoral Castle for the first time, after King Charles decided to open access to his Aberdeenshire holiday home.

The royal residence, situated between Ballater and Braemar in the north-east of Scotland, will be open to visitors for a little over a month in the summer between July 1 and August 4.

Places on the tours begin at £100, while an option that includes afternoon tea costs £150.

Previously, the public has been able to walk around the vast estate for free between April 1 and May 3, when the ticketed summer season begins.

Visitors then have to pay for access to the grounds and gardens until August 11, with the royal family tending to arrive at the castle for the summer break later that month.

But this year will be the first that the hoi polloi will be able to see previously private areas of Balmoral’s interior – albeit at a hefty price.

Only 40 tickets are available per day, and most tours are already sold out.

The castle’s website says experienced guides ‘will take you on a historical journey through several of the beautiful rooms within Balmoral Castle’.

It continues: ‘You will learn about the origins of the Castle and how it has been loved by generations of the Royal family.

‘Travel through time from the purchase of Balmoral by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, through to present day, where you can see how rooms within the castle are used today by their Majesties The King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family.

‘You will see why Balmoral is such a special place – the much-loved and celebrated Highland home of the Royal Family.’

Those taking the tour will get a chance to see King Charles’s collection of watercolour paintings depicting Balmoral, Highgrove and Sandringham – alongside a display of various outfits worn by Charles and Queen Camilla, as well as Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother.

Balmoral, located on the banks of the River Dee, was widely believed to be the late Queen’s favourite residence.

She died there in September 2022 aged 96, the first monarch to die in Scotland since James V in 1542.

The castle was built between 1853 and 1856 at the request of Queen Victoria, who had bought the estate with her husband Prince Albert after they became infatuated with the Scottish Highlands on a visit in 1842.

While Prince of Wales, Charles preferred to stay at nearby Birkhall on trips north, but spent time at Balmoral with Camilla in summer last year following his coronation.

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