Queen Elizabeth’s unexpected ‘Downton Abbey’ rule for royals visiting Balmoral

The late Queen Elizabeth II could relax the royal rulebook during her summer break at Balmoral Castle, which was widely considered her favourite place.

Trading packed schedules of state duties for Highland seclusion, Her Late Majesty spent her days enjoying long walks, shooting trips and private time with her family. But there was one rule she implemented at dinner time that former royal chef Darren McGrady described as similar to period drama Downton Abbey.

The chef, who spent 15 years catering for the royals, confessed that he once mistook Prince Philip for the gardener with his “tatty old clothes”, but he was forced to change into more formal attire every evening.

“They would come in for afternoon tea by the log fire in outdoor clothes, and then they’d all change for dinner. They’d come down in dressy ball gowns, and sit at the table – like a Downton Abbey dinner. All the fine china was brought out. At the end of the meal, a bagpipe player would walk around the table,” Darren said in an interview with Marie Claire.

While the timetable dictated that the royals sit down to eat at 8:30 pm, the chef joked that there was always one person who was late. Speaking of the Queen Mother’s reputation for appearing after the designated dinner time, he said: “They used to tell her that dinner was at 8:15, and she’d be the last one down. They told everyone else 8:30 because they knew she’d be late.”

Prince Harry said his childhood felt like Downton Abbey at times

Boasting an 80-foot clock tower and a majestic ballroom, Balmoral Castle shares an unmistakable grandeur with Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle. 

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Darren was not the only one to draw similarities between real royal life and the fictional high-society show written by Julian Fellowes, with Prince Harry joking about his childhood during a networking event in Los Angeles.

During his keynote speech, Harry quipped: “People sometimes ask if growing up with the royal family was a bit like Julian’s Downton Abbey. Yeah, but only one of those worlds is filled with drama, intrigue, elaborate dinners, marriages to Americans, and the other is a TV show.” 

Harry and William’s shared Balmoral nursery was one of the Duke’s examples of being the ‘Spare’

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Reflecting further on his childhood in his bombshell memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex recalled what his living quarters were like with his brother Prince William at Balmoral.

“Balmoral had fifty bedrooms, one of which had been divided for me and Willy,” he penned. “Adults called it the nursery. Willy had the larger half, with a double bed, a good-sized basin, a cupboard with mirrored doors, a beautiful window looking down on the courtyard, the fountain, the bronze statue of a roe deer buck.

“My half of the room was far smaller, less luxurious. I never asked why. I didn’t care. But I also didn’t need to ask. Two years older than me, Willy was the Heir, whereas I was the Spare,” he continued.