King Charles ascended the throne upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, and was officially crowned in a spectacular coronation the following May. Since becoming King, he has made a variety of changes at his inherited royal residences, including environmentally friendly tweaks and opening up more private rooms for public viewings. There was one particular feature at Balmoral Castle that Charles was keen to remove before he settled in, however.
The Balmoral library famously had a television in it for Queen Elizabeth to watch news bulletins and sporting events, however, King Charles transformed it into his study when he took charge, choosing to remove the television from the room. His Majesty is known to be a workaholic and often stays up into the small hours looking at his papers. His wife, Queen Camilla, has previously said he is "often toiling into the small hours, long after my head is on the pillow".
Duchess Sophie banished to the TV room
A reference to the former television was shared recently by Duchess Sophie in a BBC Radio 5 interview when she retold a story about being excused from a Balmoral dinner to watch the box in the library for an important reason.
© Photo: Getty ImagesRecalling the night Team GB won gold in women's hockey at the Rio Olympics, Sophie said: "I was sitting at dinner thinking 'I really want...what's going on? What's going on?'" A staff member was "an avid hockey fan," and they shared score updates with the royal periodically through the night. "And we were sitting at the end of dinner and I was twitching and eventually Her Majesty sat there and said: 'Oh, for goodness' sake, just go!'" Sophie revealed with a laugh.
Sophie said she was then joined by Prince Philip, who was keen to watch the sport too, however, Queen Elizabeth "couldn't cope with pressure" of penalties so she decided not to watch that part.
Balmoral closure
© GettyThe castle doors have now closed to members of the public, an announcement on Instagram confirmed, but a few days later, the team have been forced to make a clarification about the closure.
A brand-new post, also on Instagram, explained that parts of the estate do remain open at the moment. It read: "While the grounds, gardens, restaurant and exhibitions at Balmoral are currently closed to the public, our Main Gate Gift Shop and Terrace Café are open daily from 10am until 4pm throughout August and September.
