The summer holidays are fast approaching and it is usually that time of year when attentions turn to the Royal Family’s traditional trip to Balmoral.

The Scottish Highlands estate was a firm favourite with the late Queen, and last summer, King Charles seemed keen to carry on with most of the traditions associated with the annual summer getaway and welcomed family members for a stay at various points over the break.

Most years, making the trip north is the Prince and Princess of Wales with their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, as well as Sophie and Edward, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. However, one couple who have skipped the Balmoral break in recent years is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle along with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

For Harry, holidaying in Balmoral over the summer was part and parcel of growing up as a royal – and he was at the estate in August 1997 when he heard the tragic news that his mother Princess Diana had died following a car crash in Paris. But during her time as a working royal, Meghan only managed one trip to Balmoral with the Queen – in 2018 in the months after she and Harry tied the knot.

The couple had been expected at Balmoral in 2019 with Archie, who was just a few months old at the time. However, they skipped the trip with author Tom Bower claiming in his explosive book about Meghan and Harry, called Revenge, that Meghan felt Archie was “too young at three months to travel by plane to Scotland”.

But that doesn’t mean that the couple shunned summer holidays that year shortly after welcoming Archie. In August 2019, Harry and Meghan reportedly took Archie on his first summer holiday to Ibiza. Reports in Spanish publications claimed Meghan, Harry and Archie flew to the Balearic island on a private plane and were accompanied by their normal security team. It then later emerged they also travelled to Nice shortly after for a short trip, where they stayed at Elton John’s private villa.

Balmoral has taken on a new poignancy since the late Queen died there in September 2022 at the age of 96. However, the King broke with tradition last year by not spending the summer at Balmoral Castle. Instead, Charles and Queen Camilla chose Birkhall as their main base until autumn instead, leaving Balmoral without a monarch physically in residence for the first time since the 19th century.

Birkhall, the smaller private residence on the 50,000-acre Balmoral estate, is where the couple spent most of the Covid-19 lockdown and the King has called it “such a special place”. He inherited it upon the death of the Queen Mother in 2002 and has diligently turned it into somewhere he and his wife Camilla can happily call home.

Speaking about this summer, Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, shared her insights saying: “It’s been one heck of a year for the Royal Family so far and nothing would please the King more than to have his close family gathered together in the peace of Balmoral for a time to take stock together, mark the passing of an incredibly difficult few months and look to the future,” reports OK!.

Royal insider Jennie then went on to share insights on whether Kate will join the family’s traditional summer retreat to Scotland, stating: “Like Catherine herself has said, cancer treatment brings with it a large measure of uncertainty and that must extend to whether she is able to spend part of the summer holidays at Balmoral.”

“If she does go, I’m sure the whole family will want to surround her with love, support and renewed strength. She, meanwhile, will want to make the summer months as fun and carefree for the children as she possibly can after everything she’s been through.”

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