On Thursday, the monarch died in Scotland at age 96.
Queen Elizabeth's place of death has a storied history. The monarch died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle, the British royal family's estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She was 96.
The holiday home has been in the royal family since it was purchased for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852. Four years later, the small castle was replaced by the one that stands today. Currently, the 50,000-acre estate features 150 buildings in total.
According to The New York Post, the Scottish estate is the place where Queen Elizabeth got engaged to her husband, the late Prince Philip, in 1946.
From the time she took the throne in 1952, Balmoral was largely thought to be the queen's favorite residence. It's there that she spent her summer holidays, oftentimes with her family.
"I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands," Princess Eugenie, the late monarch's granddaughter, said in Our Queen at Ninety, a 2016 documentary, per Town & Country. "Walks, picnics, dogs-- a lot of dogs, there’s always dogs -- and people coming in and out all the time. It’s a lovely base for Granny and Grandpa, for us to come and see them up there, where you just have room to breathe and run."
In 1981, Princess Diana and Prince Charles had a "less-than-romantic honeymoon" at Balmoral, Sally Bedell Smith wrote in her 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen, per Vanity Fair.
"She didn’t appear for breakfast," Philip told the author of Diana, according to the outlet. "At lunch she sat with her headphones on, listening to music, and then she would disappear for a walk or a run."
Years later, in 1997, it was at Balmoral that Prince William and Prince Harry learned of Diana's fatal car accident. They were 15 and 12 at the time, respectively, and remained at the Scottish estate in the immediate aftermath of their mom's death.
"Back then, obviously, there were no smartphones or anything like that, so you couldn't get your news, and thankfully at the time, to be honest, we had the privacy to mourn and collect our thoughts and to have that space away from everybody," William said in the 2017 documentary Diana, 7 Days, according to ABC News.
Just two days before her death, Queen Elizabeth broke tradition by accepting the resignation of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and appointing new Prime Minister Liz Truss at Balmoral, deviating from the usual Buckingham Palace location.
Then, on Sept. 8, Queen Elizabeth "died peacefully" at Balmoral, the estate she so loved, Buckingham Palace said. The King and The Queen Consort, Charles and Camilla, are to remain at Balmoral the night of the late monarch's death before returning to London.
For updates on Queen Elizabeth's death, visit ET's ongoing coverage here.
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