The Royal Family has an impressive portfolio of homes around the country, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle – which they are expected to return to any day now.
As well as the vast 50,000 acre estate in the rolling hills of Aberdeenshire, there is another stunning Scottish home that was bought for a shockingly low price.
The castle has never been lived in full-time and has frequently been used as a summer home for the King and Queen when they were still styled as the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
The circumstances around its purchase featured in series one Netflix’s The Crown and is the family's northernmost home.
Princess Margaret called it ‘Mummy’s drafty castle’, and for good reason. The Castle of Mey is situated in Caithness on the northern coast of Scotland and is a four-and-a-half-hour journey from Balmoral Castle.
The Castle of Mey was built between 1566 and 1572 on the lands of Mey which belonged to the Bishops of Caithness.
The property was almost derelict when it was purchased by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother in 1952, following the death of her husband King George VI on February 6 of the same year.
While it is not known exactly how much the former Queen paid for the home- some say she was given it for free or that she paid £1, while others suggest she paid up to £100 (£2,951.53 today).
The Queen Mother used her own funds to bring the castle up to date by adding electricity and fresh water supplies.
Barrogill Castle, as it was then known, was in a semi-derelict state when it was purchased to be used as a holiday home by the former Queen. Upon its completion, she reinstated the original name to The Castle of Mey.
The Queen Mother usually visited the castle in August and October from 1955 until her final visit October 2001, before her death in March 2002.
The library was used as her private sitting room in later life and she was known to watch her favourite British comedies Fawlty Towers and Dad’s Army in there.
The Castle of Mey is now owned by the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust and it is open to the public between May and September every year.
It is however closed for ten days between the end of July and the beginning of August which is usually when the King and Queen would visit during the summer before travelling on to Balmoral.
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