Balmoral Castle: Everything you need to know about the Queen's 'favourite' place

Balmoral is often referred to as the Queen's "favourite place" and she is said to never be
happier than when staying there.

She travels to the estate in Aberdeenshire each summer, with members of her family invited to
spend time with her while she is there. Balmoral Castle was handed down to her through
generations of royals after being bought for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852.

The Queen 's traditional annual stay at the main property - after a break at Craigowan Lodge on
the estate in July - usually stretches through August and September and into October. 

This year she travelled to Balmoral on July 21 and remained at the estate to appoint a new
Prime Minister there for the first time in her reign on Tuesday.

The 96-year-old monarch, who has faced ongoing mobility issues, traditionally holds audiences
with outgoing and incoming premiers at Buckingham Palace but this year stayed in Scotland. 

Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson and his successor Liz Truss made the 1,000-mile round
trip to Aberdeenshire for the key audiences this week.

It came after the Queen broke with convention earlier this summer when inspecting a guard of
honour to officially mark taking up residence at her Scottish home. 

Traditionally she inspects the guard of honour at the gates of Balmoral but this year she held the
event privately within the estate's grounds for her "comfort", sources said.

Balmoral, like Sandringham, is a private residence of the Queen rather than a royal residence
belonging to the Crown. 

Princess Eugenie, the Queen's granddaughter, once described Balmoral as the most beautiful
place on the planet.

She said: "Walks, picnics, dogs - a lot of dogs, there's always dogs - and people coming in and
out all the time. It's a lovely base for Granny and Grandpa, for us to come and see them up
there; where you just have room to breathe and run."

Years of royal memories have been forged at Balmoral, including family barbecues - where the
Duke of Edinburgh did the cooking and the Queen the washing-up. After Philip and Princess
Elizabeth married in 1947, they spent part of their honeymoon at Birkhall - a grand hunting
lodge on the Balmoral estate.

The Queen was staying with her grandsons William and Harry at Balmoral when their mother
Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.