Queen Elizabeth II traveled to rural Scotland every summer to reside at the royal family’s Balmoral home, and she’s fondly remembered by one former butler for a bedroom habit she insisted on each night during her stay.
Paul Burrell, a royal butler who tended to Princess Diana for 10 years, told Express UK, “[Queen Elizabeth] loved the fact that her bedroom windows were open every night and she would get the fresh air from the highlands every night. From August until early October, she never closed her bedroom windows.”
Small of a thing as it seems, having the windows open was surely not a luxury the late monarch was afforded while at London’s Buckingham Palace, per security precautions. Even for the world’s most famous woman, life truly was about the little things.
Burrell affectionately continued, “She slept in her bed and it was almost like The Princess and the Pea; there were that many sheets and blankets and covers and eiderdowns that it was hard to find her, because sometimes that bedroom was very, very cold, especially in October in Aberdeenshire.”
The former royal butler added, “And isn’t it ironic that she died there? I mean, she died in a home which she loved, a home which had barely been touched since Queen Victoria lived there 100 years earlier and she loved that frugal way of life.”
For the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death, the royal family is planning to gather at Balmoral in her honor. King Charles has been at the residence since summer began, as he’s carrying on his late mother’s beloved tradition.
Before you go, click here to see more touching photos from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
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