Balmoral Castle, Scotland — By 7:30 on Wednesday morning, flowers were already lining the outer walls of Balmoral Castle. Balmoral Castle, a beautiful and secluded Scottish country estate that was much loved by Queen Elizabeth II, is where her life and her 70-year reign ended Thursday.
The candles flickered as Erin Harness added the bouquet. She thought about the loss that led her to get in her car at 1:00 a.m., drive from Dundee, 60 miles away, and stop for a few hours on the way to take a nap in a parking lot.
“It’s weird. It feels like any other day, so it takes a second or two for your brain to cope, but there’s a difference,” Harkness, 24, said. Protect the country’s countryside and historic buildings. “You know she’s gone, and there’s a hole in this country, a hole in the shape of Queen Elizabeth II.”
On a rainy early morning, Mr. Harkness was one of many who defied the elements to pay their respects to the Queen.They joined television crews around the world who took refuge under umbrellas as they awaited the departure of members of the royal family who rushed to Balmoral on Thursday as the Queen’s health deteriorated. I was one of the first to leave around 30:30.
In the nearby town of Ballater, by late morning, more people had gathered to take the bus to Balmoral, which had long been the center of royal life.
In the 19th century, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made Balmoral Castle their Scottish home. Since then, the castle has been the home of royal summer vacations, a place for walks and secluded picnics.
The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, and Diana, Princess of Wales, spent their honeymoon at Balmoral. Traditionally, the prime minister is invited by the king each year for a short stay at the castle.
Balmoral was featured prominently as the backdrop for television’s The Crown and the movie The Queen, which focused on the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
Despite the gray clouds, the beauty of the majestic countryside bisected by the River Dee leaves no doubt. By some accounts, Queen Elizabeth, a lifelong lover of horses, dogs and country hobbies, was perhaps happier on Balmoral than anywhere else, enjoying a little anonymity at times.
On one occasion, two American tourists, who knew the castle was nearby, were taking her and security guard Richard Griffin for a walk. They did not recognize her and asked if she had met her Queen.
“I don’t, but Dick sees her here regularly,” the Queen replied, according to Griffin’s explanation in an interview earlier this year.
On Friday, Iris Stevenson, 70, a retired office manager from Belfast, Northern Ireland, also spoke about her chance encounter with the Queen. As we were walking together, he said he was standing by the side of a single track road when a Range Rover SUV approached.
Stevenson, who regularly vacations in the area, was there on Friday to pay tribute to her.
“I think she was a wonderful person,” she said. “She has united her family and the whole country for her long time. It’s great that she’s 96 and she’s working to the end.”
“You could say she worked until the day she died,” she added, referring to the fact that the Queen appointed a new prime minister, Liz Truss, on Tuesday.
On Friday, Queen Elizabeth’s love for Scotland was reciprocated with several tributes that left her with a bouquet of flowers. One of them quotes the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
“My heart is in the Highlands, my heart is not here.
My heart is high and chasing deer.
Chasing the deer, chasing the fawn,
Wherever I go, my heart is in the Highlands.
Goodbye Highlands, goodbye North,
Land of Value, Birthplace of Balor
Shauna Leonard, from Westhill, Aberdeenshire, also paid tribute to the Queen, noting not only stability and consistency, but her power as a unifying force.
“She had a Scottish mother and an English father,” she said, referring to the fact that the Queen’s mother was descended from the Scottish royal family. I loved it,” Leonard added. “She’s incredible what she’s done and brought her country together.”
Some visitors from England agreed that Balmoral was a fitting place to end Queen Elizabeth’s long reign. It included David Brenkiron, a sales representative from Durham in the Northeast. On Friday, he picked up the only flower he could find at the local supermarket at 6 a.m. and drove over an hour to Balmoral.
“She was there all the time, so I felt it was the right thing to do,” said 49-year-old Brenkiron. He recalled a party he attended on the street as a child during the 1977 Jubilee celebrations and said he still had the ceremonial coins and beakers. In commemoration.
“She has been my queen all my life,” he said. “I knew nothing else”
He admitted that handing over the crown to King Charles would be an adjustment. Referring to the national currency, Mr Blenkiron said of the change in the chorus of the national anthem from “God save the queen” to “God save the king”, “We will be singing the wrong words for quite a few years.”
Still, he added a little emotion to his voice as he stood in the heavy rain. she loved it