{"id":319138,"date":"2025-08-05T06:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T06:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319138\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T06:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T06:38:15","slug":"prince-harry-defends-utterly-freaky-royal-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319138\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Harry defends ‘utterly freaky’ royal tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duke of Sussex<\/a> left no stone unturned when he detailed past and present parts of his life in his memoir, Spare, and in it he defended an annual royal tradition.<\/p>\n

When recounting his summers spent at Balmoral<\/a> he looked back fondly, and made a point about defending the “stories” about the iconic castle. He explained that a former prime minister called the place, “surreal” and “utterly freaky,” and that UK politician was, in fact, Tony Blair, who visited multiple times during his time in office.<\/p>\n

Prince Harry shared his personal thoughts on the grand Scottish estate, writing: “To me Balmoral was always simply Paradise. A cross between Disney World and some sacred Druid grove.”<\/p>\n

\"AUGUST\u00a9 Tim Graham, GettyPrince Harry has largely fond memories of Balmoral<\/p>\n

He continued: I was always too busy fishing, shooting, running up and down ‘the hill’ to notice anything off about the feng shui of the old castle. What I\u2019m trying to say is, I was happy there.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH: The royal family’s ‘special’ place<\/p>\n

Delving into what a normal royal summer’s day would look like, the Duke explained: “My family lived to be outdoors, especially Granny, who got cross if she didn\u2019t breathe at least an hour of fresh air each day. What we did outdoors, however, what we said, wore, ate, I can\u2019t conjure.”<\/p>\n

\"Charles\u00a9 GettyCharles wearing a kilt with Harry and William in Scotland in 1997
\nA gruesome tradition<\/p>\n

In another part of Spare, Harry recalled a bizarre tradition called a ‘blooding’ where his face was smeared with blood from a deer. The Prince was 15 when he stalked and killed his first deer on the Scottish estate and he described the horrific initiation ceremony where a man named Sandy pushed his head inside the animal’s carcass.<\/p>\n

LISTEN: The lowdown on Meghan Markle’s new ros\u00e9 wine <\/b><\/p>\n

“I tried to pull away, but Sandy pushed me deeper,” Harry wrote. “I was shocked by his insane strength. And by the infernal smell. My breakfast jumped up from my stomach.”<\/p>\n

\n \"Balmoral\u00a9 Alamy Stock PhotoHunting is now forbidden on the estate<\/p>\n

“My breakfast jumped up from my stomach”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In September 2023, it was confirmed that the royals can no longer go hunting, deer stalking or fishing at the five-century-old Abergeldie Estate, located near Balmoral, bringing an end to more than 170 years of tradition.<\/p>\n

And in an interview with The Telegraph<\/a> in 2023, Harry clarified his thoughts on it: “It’s interesting because so many of those moments have made me the man I am today. Would I encourage Archie to stick his head inside a carcass? Probably not.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lilibet\u00a9 Instagram \/ @meghanHarry is raising Archie differently to his childhood
\nOutdoor pursuits<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although hunting may be off the agenda, it is clear to see that Harry’s active and outdoorsy lifestyle has been passed onto his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The family have a vast estate at their $29 million mansion, with plenty of room to roam and play. We’ve also seen pictures of them boating and surfing together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ROYAL FAN? JOIN THE CLUB<\/p>\n

Welcome to The HELLO! Royal Club<\/a>, where thousands of royal fans like you get to delve deeper into the wonderful world of royalty every day. Want to join them? Just click the button below for a list of club benefits and joining information.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"archieThe family love being outdoors in nature<\/p>\n

A few days ago, ahead of Meghan’s 44th birthday, the Sussexes were spotted down at a local beach, close to their home, watching Archie on his surf lesson. “Harry and Meghan were part of a group of parents, they were very down to earth,” a source tells HELLO! “They were so proud of Archie. It was cute to watch – a special family time.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duke of Sussex left no stone unturned when he detailed past and present parts of his life…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[83380,1268,447,5105,7710,519,16506,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-319138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-balmoral","9":"tag-homes","10":"tag-prince-harry","11":"tag-royal","12":"tag-royal-families","13":"tag-royal-family","14":"tag-royal-homes","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114974786337763529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}