JANET STREET-PORTER: It's the hottest ticket in town - but why IS King Charles ... trends now
Forget Taylor Swift or Queen Bey - the hottest ticket of the summer has been snapped up quicker than you can say I fancy a Gay Gordon.
At only £100 a pop, the 'Balmoral Experience' was priced way too cheaply. As the gig went live, the Royal website crashed under the tidal wave of demand, selling out immediately. Which means that monarchists and nosey parkers (like myself) must try and pick up an expensive re-sale online, having missed the chance to peek inside a real monarch's palace, one that's actually inhabited for about six whole weeks of the year!
Not just a 'visit' to a set of rooms that doubled for a Royal residence in the Crown, but a chance to see the actual sofas where the late Queen and Prince Philip sipped G and T's before supper and played cards before bed.
Queen Elizabeth II is pictured as she waited to meet with then-Prime Minister Liz Truss in Ballater, Scotland, on September 6, 2022
Queen Elizabeth II with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Balmoral, September 1976
At only £100 a pop, the 'Balmoral Experience' was priced way too cheaply
What unforgettable Balmoral 'experiences' were on offer? Crumpets with Camilla? Lunch with Fergie shucking the oysters? Hardly.
During July and August, lucky ticket holders will be able to travel hundreds of miles north to Queen Victoria's special home in the Scottish Highlands - where they can shuffle in awe past priceless art featuring dead stags and rainy highland views.
They'll have the chance to view a watercolour painted by the King, and walk along the actual corridor where King Charles met Rishi Sunak last September. (Not very exciting so far). The highlight must be the ballroom where Kings and Queens have danced highland reels through the centuries.
Plus, a display of garments worn by the late Queen, the Queen Mother, Camilla and Charles - can it get any more thrilling than staring at a ageing posh frock or elderly feather trim? Feeling peckish? Afternoon tea is £50 extra- a lot for cucumber sandwiches and shortbread.
Balmoral was said to be the late Queens' favourite home - but visitors won't be going for the luxurious décor.
Elizabeth was a frugal woman who clearly didn't believe in spending money updating her many living rooms - the castle's drawing room (open to Experience ticket holders) is packed with resolutely 1970's décor, prissy sofas in tasteful greens - furniture that wouldn't be out of place in a dentist's waiting room in Harley Street (based on my own experience). Hyacinth Bouquet would have felt utterly at home.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, in the study at Balmoral Castle, 26th September 1976
Prince Charles and his mother Princess Elizabeth looking out of a window at Balmoral in 1952
Balmoral was said to be the late Queens' favourite home - but visitors won't be going for the luxurious décor
Why have the Royals let commoners in at all? The income generated from a few hundred gawpers at Balmoral won't amount to anything much at £100 a person - but maybe it's the public's perception that counts. The King must be conscious his family have dozens of palaces in all sizes, thousands of staff and one of the largest art collections in Europe.
In short, they're sitting on mountains of STUFF - and the cost of upkeep is huge. As long as Charles is a standard bearer for frugal living and minimising waste (I know, it seems incongruous) - something must be done to show ordinary folk that they're doing their best (just like everyone else) to make ends meet and cut costs.
Which must be why, after years of meetings, it has been decided to offer anyone prepared to cough up £100, not just an entry ticket and a chance to check the dusting and peer at the porcelain - but something far more special (and Royal) - the
