King Charles has landed in Scotland to privately mourn his mother on the Balmoral estate where the Queen died 12 days ago with him by her side, MailOnline can reveal today.
The monarch left RAF Northolt on the private jet he used during his tour of the UK following Her Majesty’s death and touched down in Aberdeen this lunchtime. The Queen Consort, Camilla, is with him.
His flight to Scotland came after the royals published a previously unseen picture of Her Majesty hiking in Balmoral – released just as Charles laid her to rest during a private interment at St George’s Chapel last night.
The service was for senior royals only – and completely private – but one senior royal source told the Evening Standard: ‘Yes there were tears. Of course there were. But at least Her Majesty is at peace now’.
It is telling that the King is visiting the estate his mother ‘loved most’ in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park following her interment in the family tomb yesterday. Charles chose to retreat to his remote home in the Welsh countryside within 24 hours of his father’s funeral in April 2021.
Charles will visit the home where his mother died 12 days ago. He will likely stay at Birkhall, his Scottish home on the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, which sits around seven miles from the main castle. He inherited Birkhall from the Queen Mother upon her death in 2002. MailOnline has asked Buckingham Palace to comment.
This morning the King left Windsor, where the royals stayed last night. He may also have said goodbye to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with the couple reportedly flying back to Los Angeles as soon as possible.
The King was swept into RAF Northolt in north London at just before 10.30am. His police outriders removed their helmets and bowed while he boarded with his wife, as the Royal Family observes a period of mourning to be observed from now until seven days after the Queen’s Funeral. All public engagements are cancelled until next Tuesday.
The royals landed at 12.04pm at Aberdeen – the airport the Queen’s children and grandchildren rushed to on Thursday, September 8 in the hope they would see her before she died. Tragically only Charles and Anne are understood to have made it to the Scottish estate – an hour’s drive away from the airport – with Prince Harry 15 minutes from landing there when the world learned she had passed away. Palace officials insist he had been told before the public.
And last night Buckingham Palace published a picture of the Queen taken at Balmoral in 1971, with the words: ‘May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest. In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen.’
The photo sees Her Majesty hiking through the heathlands at her beloved Aberdeenshire estate.
The links to the castle didn’t end there yesterday. The late sovereign’s personal piper Paul Burns, who had been there every morning during her final days at Balmoral, was there at the end, playing during the final moments of public mourning. He played one last lament while the Queen’s coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault,
Even in the days before she died she had urged guests to a shooting party that many of the traditions of a Balmoral summer should continue, even though she could not join in as she once did, particularly with the walks and the picnics.
Just days before her death Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, stayed with the Queen at Balmoral.
Indeed he had dinner with her on Saturday and lunch with her on Sunday.
Giving a rare insight into her final days, Dr Greensheilds described the monarch as frail but in ‘really good spirits’ and ‘very engaging’ company, and said he had been surprised by the sudden decline in her health and her death.
The Queen was seen only a few weeks ago walking her corgis in the gardens, slowly and cautiously, but out in the fresh air nonetheless.
‘It’s been a very typical and jolly summer at Balmoral, lots of walks and picnics and BBQs,’ a source said.
Another royal source who encountered the Queen just days ago described her as being in ‘genuinely good spirits’.
That, and the fact that members of the Royal Family were only scrambled to Balmoral, first thing on the Thursday morning, suggests that her health took a catastrophic turn for the worse on the night before.
The Queen’s love of Scotland was well known, as is her son’s. When he was Prince of Wales, Charles was known as the Duke of Rothesay there until his titles were handed to Prince William.
Her Majesty had a special connection to Balmoral since childhood because of the time she spent there with her parents and sister. The late monarch would always spend her summer there. Charles shared that love, and was moved to tears when his mother was lying at rest in Edinburgh last week after a procession that saw him and his siblings march the Royal Mile behind her coffin before her body left Scotland on last Tuesday.
It came as the Royal Family released two poignant photo tributes to the Queen as they begin another week of mourning after a state funeral full of emotion, ceremony and symbolism that wowed and moved the world before Charles personally laid his mother to rest during a private burial last night.
Her Majesty’s long journey to her final resting place began in Balmoral on the day of her death on September 8 and ended last night with her private interment next to Prince Philip, with the new King scattering earth on his mother’s coffin at 7.30pm.
