For Queen Elizabeth, Balmoral was a place where she could truly decompress and live a more "normal" life. The Royal Family's beloved Scottish estate—where The King and Queen Camilla continue to enjoy summer holidays—provided her a welcome retreat from life in London, and former royal butler Paul Burrell tells Marie Claire that the late Queen especially loved spending time with her sister, Princess Margaret, in Scotland.
Burrell worked as a footman for Queen Elizabeth for 11 years before joining Prince Charles and Princess Diana's household as a butler in 1987, and he has fond memories of the late monarch's trips to Balmoral with her sister. Speaking on behalf of Casino.org, Burrell recalls watching "The Queen in her head scarf and kilt with her walking shoes on, surrounded by nine corgis stomping through the heather of Balmoral with her sister, Princess Margaret."
Burrell continues that the duo especially enjoyed their outings together and they would return "like two giggling schoolchildren, remembering their childhood, remembering the happy days when they were with their parents, the King and Queen, and coming back and bringing bags full of wild strawberries for teatime at Balmoral."
Princess Margaret (left) and Queen Elizabeth are pictured at Balmoral with a young Princess Anne.
It turns out the royal sisters would share one sweet treat together with the (literal) fruits of their labor. "They picked their strawberries, and then the ones left over, they'd ask the pastry chef to make jam," Burrell says. "Woe betides if anyone touched it. That was their jam, and they would eat it until it was gone."
Multiple sources have shared that Queen Elizabeth would do her own dishes while enjoying picnics at Balmoral, and Burrell tells Marie Claire that his former boss was much more down-to-earth than one might expect.
He describes the late Queen as "a woman whom you would want to embrace," sharing that Queen Elizabeth "was like everyone’s grandmother" and "loved fun and laughter."
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are pictured at Balmoral Castle with Prince Andrew (on Philip's lap), Princess Anne and Prince Charles.
Burrell says that it was special for him "to see her in those family times at Balmoral and feeding her corgis, herself, every day with pedigree chum or rabbit caught on the estate." He explains that "the gamekeeper would shoot and bring in" the animals "and the chefs would boil it up, and they would chop it up finely" for the dogs.
But if you expect the corgis ate from fine china bowls, think again. The late Queen would "get a silver spoon and fork out" the food "every day at four o'clock, and she would feed her corgis in yellow plastic Tupperware bowls," Burrell shares.
"That was very refreshing for me to see how normal she was," he adds. "She was a woman who didn't suffer nonsense, but she was very easily pleased. She didn't ask for much."
