Balmoral Castle

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Balmoral Castle seen from the south side

Balmoral Castle is a castle on the River Dee below Mount Lochnagar in the Civil parish Crathie and Braemar in Aberdeenshire , Scotland . The name "Royal Deeside", which describes the landscape on the upper reaches of the Dee, goes back to the royal owners. It is now the summer residence of Elizabeth II , the British Queen. She stays there for about twelve weeks between August and October. The castle is privately owned by the monarch and is not part of the Crown Estate .

history

The castle was built in the 14th century as the seat of Sir William Drummond . The area had previously served King Robert II as a hunting ground. In the following years the castle, which was much smaller than the current one, changed hands several times until it was acquired by James Duff, 2nd Earl of Fife . In 1848 he rented it out to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a holiday home. As both were fascinated by the Scottish landscape, Albert bought Balmoral Castle from the Earl as a private property (while the official residence of the respective monarch in Scotland is Holyrood Palace in the capital Edinburgh, which the Queen lives for about a week annually).

The country estate covers about 243 km², which also includes several small villages. Around 50 people are employed at Balmoral all year round, more than the same number during the season.

The building complex

The Balmoral country estate, originally rented by Queen Victoria, was remodeled in 1830 by the Scottish architect John Smith . In 1853 his son William Smith , city architect of Aberdeen since 1852 and student of William Burns , was commissioned with the construction and planning of today's Balmoral Castle . Burns turned to Prince Albert during construction and accused his former student of plagiarism of his ideas - but to no avail.

Prince Albert himself put the first sketches for the building on paper. The Scottish Baronial style with neo-Gothic elements, which are borrowed from German rather than English models, was decisive ; He was particularly interested in the facade details such as the towers and the design of the windows.

The foundation stone for the new building northwest of the existing manor house was laid on September 28, 1853. In 1855 the first phase of construction with the royal apartments was completed, and the staff quarters and the tower were completed the following year. The main building material used was granite , which was extracted from the Invergelder quarry belonging to the Balmoral Estate.

The castle consists of two three-story, interlocked square structures, each enclosing an inner courtyard. The south-western part of the building houses the official rooms and the royal bedrooms, the north-western part the kitchen, utility rooms, storage rooms, ancillary rooms and the staff rooms. The 24 meter high clock tower adjoins the southeast side - the tower of Craigievar Castle served as a template for this . Balmoral Castle has a total of 70 rooms.

In 1856 the new castle was ready for occupancy, the old property was demolished shortly afterwards. In the fall of 1857, the new bridge over the Dee, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel , which connects Balmoral Castle with the village of Crathie located around 800 meters to the east , was completed.

The cost of the construction project exceeded the purchase price by more than 15 times. These measures could only be financed because of a large inheritance that Queen Victoria had received shortly before. In the following decades, numerous outbuildings were built around the castle and on the entire property, and the castle itself was expanded to include a ballroom.

Since 1987 the lock has been depicted on the back of 100 pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland .

Trivia

A GPS jammer or GPS spoofer is likely installed on or near the lock . If you want to navigate there using your navigation device or a GPS receiver, you end up in the "wilderness" far away. Directional signs on the streets, however, are reliable.

Individual evidence

  1. Sheet 65 - Balmoral (1902)
  2. ^ William Smith II, in: Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1840–1980
  3. Photobucket: Ground Floor Plan of Balmoral Castle.
  4. ^ The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008 ; accessed on January 16, 2015 .

Web links

Commons : Balmoral Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 57 ° 2 ′ 27 ″  N , 3 ° 13 ′ 48 ″  W.