King Charles III and Queen Camilla and other members of the Royal Family are remembering the late Queen Elizabeth II, three years on from her death
King Charles’ former butler has suggested the monarch is creating a family tradition to commemorate his mother Queen Elizabeth II. Grant Harrold, who worked at Highgrove House for seven years when Charles was the Prince of Wales, is one of many remembering the late Queen today.
The former monarch died peacefully at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8th 2022, aged 96. To mark the day, King Charles and Queen Camilla have remained at Balmoral, following a traditional Sunday service at Crathie Kirk yesterday.
While the King regularly went to Balmoral every summer throughout Queen’s reign, the last three years have particularly been more poignant since her death.
With this, he consistently chooses Balmoral and Crathie Kirk for private reflection and worship, while also sharing tributes publicly.
According to Grant, he thinks visits to the royal residence around the anniversary of the Queen’s death will “become a yearly thing” moving forward.
The former royal butler says such a move follows the Queen’s personal tradition of going down to Sandringham to mark her father, George VI’s death.
George died on February 6, 1952 at Sandringham House in Norfolk, with a coronary thrombosis later marked as his cause of death.
Reflecting on the Queen’s way of remembering her father, Grant told media at the launch of his book The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life of Royal Service: “She would stay until after that day to mark the fact that he died there.
“And it’s been interesting because the King, for the last couple of years, has been at Balmoral on the anniversary with family members, and nobody has really picked up on it.
“I might be wrong, and it could also change this year, but I think this is now his thing of remembering his mother, with the family all getting together on that period.
“It appears to be that he moves in for a week or two, and I think it coincides with the anniversary of his mother’s death.
“And then I imagine he then moves back over to Birkhall, which is 10 minutes away from Balmoral.”
While the King and Queen Camilla observe the poignant day at Balmoral Castle privately today, Prince William and Kate have paid tribute to the former monarch in a different way.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have paid a visit to a Women’s Institute branch in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to honour the Queen’s 80-year association with the organisation.
Prince Harry has also returned to the UK for the first time in months to attend the WellChild Awards in London.
He has also reportedly privately laid flowers at his late grandmother’s grave at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
