For Elizabeth, Balmoral estate was a place to ‘be normal’

LONDON (AP) — When the hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s body pulled out of the gates of Balmoral Castle on Sunday, it marked the monarch’s final departure from a personal sanctuary where she could shed the straitjacket of protocol and ceremony for a few weeks every year. The sprawling estate in the Scottish Highlands west of Aberdeen was a place where Elizabeth rode her beloved horses, picnicked and pushed her children around the grounds on tricycles and wagons, setting aside the formality of Buckingham Palace. Rev. David Barr of Glenmuick Church in nearby Ballater says that when Elizabeth went through the gates at Balmoral, “I believe the royal part of her stays mostly outside.”