Queen Camilla Shares the Spooky Encounter That Made Her "Hair Stand on End" at a Royal Residence
Her Majesty refused to come back to the property for "years."
Considering some of the royal family’s homes, like the Palace of Holyroodhouse, date back to the 1500s, it’s no surprise to hear a good ghost story. Spirits reportedly haunt everywhere from Sandringham House to Windsor Castle, but there’s one Scottish property that Queen Camilla refused to return to for “years” after a creepy incident.
In the 2018 documentary The Real Camilla, the now-Queen reflected on a terrifying visit to Dumfries House, a building that was constructed in the 1750s and serves as the headquarters for The King’s Foundation. The home needed extensive renovations when King Charles purchased it in 2007, and Camilla said that she got an "eerie" feeling when she first visited.
"There was definitely a ghost—without a shadow of a doubt. I remember the first time I walked up the steps, got into the hall and I thought, 'I can't go any further.' I literally froze,” Queen Camilla recalled. “If my hair could stand on end, it would have done.”
King Charles opened Dumfries House to the public for the first time in 250 years.
Camilla was so rattled by the moment that she refused to come back to Dumfries House, admitting, “I remember leaving and thinking, ‘I don't want to come back here again,’ and I didn't for a few years."
Once the renovations were completed, The Queen did return, and she shared, "Whatever was there had disappeared. The whole thing seemed to be smiling again."
Paranormal historian Richard Felix appeared on Hello! magazine’s “A Right Royal Podcast” in 2023 to dish on royal ghosts, explaining that Dumfries House is rumored to be haunted by the Marquess of Bute.
Queen Camilla visits Dumfries House in 2021.
"I speak to [a number of people who] ring me and say, ‘We bought this house and everything was fine until we started doing some work on the house,’” Felix shared. “A prime example of that is Dumfries House.”
Queen Camilla isn't the only royal who has experienced a frightful spirit. "Prince Charles was apparently terrified at Sandringham when he was again in the library at Sandringham, he and a footman were in there and followed around the library by a ghost!" Felix shared.
