On Wednesday, King Charles and Queen Camilla went to their village hall in Ballater, Scotland, for a fun afternoon of music and community s...
The royal couple was at the event on Thursday, Oct. 9, to mark the 150th anniversary of the building of the Albert Hall. During their visit, they heard the world premiere of a new fiddle tune written just for the event by local artist Dr. Paul Anderson. A manuscript of the tune will be shown in the hall.
Charles (76 years old) and Camilla (78 years old) also met the students whose designs won a community contest honouring the event. Inside the hall, they talked to people from the Ballater Local History Group, who showed them a silver trowel that was used to lay the hall's foundation stone in 1874. They also talked to people from The Scottish Women's Institute and a Lego group that meets there weekly. Their close friend and well-known author Dame Jilly Cooper died on October 5 after falling and hitting her head. The trip happened just a few days after her death. The Queen spoke deeply about Cooper's death, saying, "I was saddened to learn of Dame Jilly's death last night..." In real life, she was a great, funny, and caring friend to me and many others.
The Albert Hall opened in 1875, and twenty years later, the Victoria Hall and Gordon Institute, which were right next door, opened as well. After being fixed up a lot, the late Queen Elizabeth reopened the building in 1987. In the past few years, Charles and Camilla have made several trips to the spot. In August, they went to see the new Banner of the Clan Farquharson, and in October 2022, they thanked the people who had helped after the death of Queen Elizabeth II at nearby Balmoral.
Following what has become a practice for them, Charles and Camilla have spent most of their time at the estate in Aberdeenshire since the summer. Charles goes south to London for work and to continue his treatment for an unknown cancer. The 50,000-acre estate is one of two that King Charles owns personally. Another one is Sandringham in Norfolk, England. This is where the royal family usually spends Christmas.
Charles is also proud that the estate has one of the biggest protected areas of the Caledonian forest, which is an old-growth forest that used to cover a lot of the Highlands. The famous environmentalist has said that the Ballochbuie Forest is one of the "most precious and almost sacred" parts of Balmoral.