Honeymoon at hunting lodge
2005-04-08 20:15
London - Prince Charles's honeymoon with Camilla Parker Bowles will be in a cozy Scottish hunting lodge that previously belonged to his grandmother.
The trip may lack the glitz of Charles's honeymoon cruise around the Mediterranean with Princess Diana. But, like the less glamorous Parker Bowles, it appears better suited to his tastes.
While at Birkhall mansion in the Scottish highlands, the newlyweds will be able to engage in their shared love of country pursuits such as fishing, long walks and wearing lots of tweed.
Charles has described the early 18th-century home on the royal Balmoral estate as "a unique haven of cosiness and character". He is reportedly to fish in the River Muick, which flows at the bottom of Birkhall's sloping garden.
"One of the reasons I think Charles and Camilla like it here is because it is normally quiet and they can get on with their lives," local butcher Barry Florence said Friday.
Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert bought Birkhall in the 19th century and it became the Balmoral residence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who died in 2002, leaving it to Charles.
The prince's mother, now Queen Elizabeth II, spent some of her honeymoon there after her marriage to Prince Phillip.
The small, whitewashed mansion sits in a wooded estate and lies some 19km from the imposing Balmoral Castle, where the queen spends her summer holidays.
Royal retreat
Diana passed some of her honeymoon on the estate, after she and Charles toured the Mediterranean aboard a lavish royal yacht. But, unlike Parker Bowles, the late princess never developed a passion for the Scottish countryside.
Charles, however, often retreated to Birkhall to escape media scrutiny during the breakdown of his first marriage. In recent years, he and Parker Bowles have spent much of the spring season there.
They are expected to stay for about a week at Birkhall, but will interrupt their honeymoon to carry out their first official engagement as a married couple by opening a nearby children's playground.
"It is wonderful that they will be carrying out their first official engagement as a married couple in Ballater," said pharmacist Derek Mutch. "It feels like a thank you to the village for the way we have treated and accepted them over the years."
- AP