While Charles, Camilla, and many of the royal family are heading to Scotland for their summer break, Meghan and Harry famously shunned the traditional holiday in 2019 and opted for a different destination
With the summer holidays in full swing, it’s the time of year where King Charles, Queen Camilla, and a host of other royals head to Balmoral in Scotland to enjoy the last of the summer days.
In keeping with decades of tradition, which began with the late Queen, the royals head to the castle in the Scottish Highlands each August to spend time together before returning to their royal duties in September.
While many members of the royal family book their Balmoral holidays months in advance, two key royals opted out of the family holiday in 2019, causing a stir within the Firm. It comes after Prince Andrew author reveals next royal he’s targetting with bombshell biography.
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Six years ago, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were expected to arrive at Balmoral with Prince Archie, who was only a few months old at the time, but decided to skip the holiday at the last minute.
Author Tom Bower claimed in his explosive book about Meghan and Harry, called Revenge, that Meghan felt Archie was “too young at three months to travel by plane to Scotland”.
However, the same month they were due to travel to Scotland, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly took their young son to Ibiza, as reports in Spanish publications claimed Meghan, Harry and Archie flew to the Balearic island on a private plane and were accompanied by their normal security team.
It later emerged that they used their time abroad to also travel to Nice shortly after for a trip, where they stayed at Elton John’s private villa.
Balmoral holds special memories for much of the royal family, including Prince Harry, as he spent many summers in Scotland during his youth, enjoying time in the sun with his brother Prince William, their cousins, and their grandmother the late Queen Elizabeth.
Prince Harry was also spending time in the Scottish royal residence in the summer of 1997 when he was told that his mother, the late Princess Diana, had tragically died in a car crash.
During Meghan’s time as a working royal, before she and Harry quit their royal life in 2020 and relocated to California, Meghan only managed one trip to Balmoral with the Queen – in 2018 in the months after she and Harry tied the knot.
This summer, King Charles has already been joined in Balmoral by Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, despite the recent spate of humiliating claims against the Yorks in an explosive new biography.
The disgraced Duke of York is said to be staying with Fergie at the seven-bedroom Craigowan Lodge on the Balmoral estate, which was a favourite place to stay of the late Queen’s.
It is reported the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children are set to visit Balmoral this summer, as are the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophie, and their children.
