The visit got off to a bad start when the royal carriage got stuck in the archway and chaos ensued. Tim tells the story of how one morning the royal lovebirds slipped out of the castle with their favourite dogs and set off along the beach for a walk. A sudden squall forced them to seek shelter with a fisherman. His hospitality was later recognised by the Queen, who rewarded him with a pension.
Up Next in Royal Upstairs Downstairs
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Royal Upstairs Downstairs: Wimpole
Queen Victoria visited Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire with Prince Albert in 1843. She was just 24 years old, but had already been Queen for 6 years. She writes in her diary that the crowds in Cambridge were awful.
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Royal Upstairs Downstairs: Belvoir
Queen Victoria’s advisers - the spin doctors of the day - thought that the sight of her handsome husband on horseback, hunting heroically with the famous Belvoir hunt, might help boost his image. So this notionally private visit was designed to have a public impact and Tim discovers if it worked.
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Royal Upstairs Downstairs: Blair
As a present for guarding her during her stay, Queen Victoria gave the Atholl Guards their own coat of arms, making them to this day the only private army in Europe. Oh, and she threw in a couple of canons for good measure.
