Former Royal Butler Reveals the "Crazy Fun Things" Queen Elizabeth Got Up to Behind the Scenes at Balmoral

Queen Elizabeth is said to have felt the most at home while staying at Balmoral Castle, her beloved Scottish estate. The more than 50,000 acre property gave her a rare respite from life in London, with the late Queen once noting (via the Balmoral website), “You can go out for miles and never see anybody, there are endless possibilities.” Now, former royal butler Grant Harrold is sharing some of his favorite stories from the royal residence, including running with Queen Elizabeth and one “magical” dance.

Speaking to Smooth Spins Casino, Harrold—who worked as a butler to King Charles between 2004 and 2011—said Balmoral has “been important to the royals since the days of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.” Queen Elizabeth and King Charles especially “loved being in Scotland,” he added, and the late Queen made it a priority of “getting [the Royal Family] all up there every year.”

“She'd make sure that every summer they were there, and it was part of the annual break and there were lots of different activities and things going on,” Harrold shared. “There were numerous visits, like Highland Games and the Ghillies balls. It was a real fun time for them to be up there and it went on for certainly for two months—but a bit longer for the King.”

Queen Elizabeth loved to take her corgis for walks on the estate or go riding, and when she was younger, she'd pick berries with her sister, Princess Margaret. Harrold said that it wasn't unusual to run into a member of the Royal Family while out in the public parts of the estate, and Queen Elizabeth and her family loved to play pranks on tourists.

“I remember going out for walks and runs and bumping into the royals,” he said. “Often royals would bump into visitors on the estate who would ironically say to them, 'This is a royal estate, you should keep a lookout, you never know, one day you might bump into a royal.' So all sorts of crazy fun things used to happen up there.”

Harrold said one of his most cherished memories is sharing a dance with the late Queen at the annual Ghillies Ball at Balmoral, where staff members mixed with the Royal Family and their guests.

Calling the encounter “a magical moment,” Harrold explained that he'd always dreamed of dancing with Queen Elizabeth after watching a documentary featuring Balmoral as a child.

The King's former butler also shared the story of the time he ran down a Balmoral hallway with the late Queen, explaining that he'd announced dinner, but “the Royal Family were late coming out of the drawing room.” Queen Elizabeth, who was a stickler for being on schedule, then decided to take off “down the corridor to make them go faster.”

Harrold added that he “raced down the corridor with her, and it was so funny because I never thought I'd ever run down a corridor with The Queen.”

The former butler also shared that planning for the Balmoral summer holiday this year will begin as early as April. “You'll also find that because of the schedules and guest lists, it will get planned, certainly from Easter onwards. They all start getting planned so that by the time it gets to summer it gives people plenty of notice to make sure they're free to go up there,” he said.