NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
King Charles<\/a>‘ official welcome to\u00a0Balmoral Castle<\/a>\u00a0in Scotland wouldn’t be complete without a reunion with a pony known for some antics.\n<\/p>\n On Monday, Aug. 18, the King officially started his summer residence at Balmoral with a welcome ceremony. The monarch, 76, sported a kilt as he inspected troops from Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and once again met with their mascot, a Shetland pony known as Corporal Cruachan IV.\n<\/p>\n As King Charles exchanged a few words with the mascot’s handler, causing him to smile on a few occasions, Cruachan appeared to be on his best behavior. The sovereign made sure to give the pony a pat on the nose before moving on.\n<\/p>\n Cruachan has behaved for King Charles over recent years, but the pony was known for some scene-stealing behavior during the reign of Queen Elizabeth<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n King Charles at official welcome to Balmoral on Aug. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0Jane Barlow\/PA Images\/Getty<\/p>\n In 2017, Cruachan attempted to take a bite of the flowers being held by the Queen during a visit to Stirling Castle. The following year, the pony\u00a0relieved himself during the ceremonial welcome to Balmoral Castle<\/a>, causing Queen Elizabeth to turn and cover her nose with her hand.\n<\/p>\n Nodding to his naughty reputation, Queen Elizabeth once quipped, “Here we are again,” upon seeing the mascot.\n<\/p>\n Balmoral Castle\u00a0recently announced\u00a0that the grounds, gardens and exhibitions of the estate\u00a0were closed to the public for the season, hinting that King Charles,\u00a0Queen Camilla<\/a>\u00a0and other royals would soon be gathering there for their summer visit.\n<\/p>\n King Charles at official welcome to Balmoral on Aug. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0Jane Barlow\/PA Images\/Getty<\/p>\n The Scottish Highlands castle and surrounding estate were purchased in 1845 by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. Ever since, the British royal family has retreated to the royal residence for summer fun.\n<\/p>\n “It was a life of picnics and paddling around,” Margaret Rhodes, the Queen’s cousin, once said.\n<\/p>\n The castle was especially meaningful to the late Queen Elizabeth as the site of many important moments in her life, from\u00a0Prince Philip<\/a>‘s proposal in 1946 and their royal honeymoon to summers with her growing family.\n<\/p>\n Her granddaughter\u00a0Princess Eugenie<\/a>\u00a0said of Balmoral in the 2016 documentary\u00a0Our Queen at Ninety,\u00a0“I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands.”<\/p>\n Balmoral Castle.<\/p>\n Robert Plattner\/Oneworld Picture\/Universal Images Group\/Getty<\/p>\n Although it’s a vacation from the public eye, it’s not all play for the monarch during the break in the Scottish Highlands. Like his mother, King Charles continues to work, reading the diplomatic papers in the famous “red boxes” delivered daily. He also usually continues to hold audiences and undertake some public engagements between visits from members of the royal family.\n<\/p>\n While Balmoral holds many happy memories for the royals, it is also where Queen Elizabeth\u00a0died at age 96<\/a>\u00a0on Sept. 8, 2022,\u00a0just days after her\u00a0final royal duty<\/a>. Last year, King Charles spent the first anniversary of his mother’s death and his accession to the throne at the castle,\u00a0attending a service<\/a> at the nearby Crathie Kirk church.\n<\/p>\n Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage?\u00a0Sign up for our free Royals newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n King Charles at official welcome to Balmoral on Aug. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0Jane Barlow\/PA Images\/Getty<\/p>\n Prince William<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kate Middleton<\/a>‘s summer will almost certainly include a\u00a0trip to Scotland<\/a>\u00a0with their three children:\u00a0Prince George<\/a>, 12,\u00a0Princess Charlotte<\/a>, 10, and\u00a0Prince Louis<\/a>, 7. The Prince and Princess of Wales also have an upcoming move ahead \u2014 over the weekend, PEOPLE confirmed that William and Kate will relocate to Forest Lodge in Windsor<\/a> before the end of the year. The residence is larger than their current home base \u2014\u00a0Adelaide Cottage<\/a>, where they moved in September 2022 \u2014 and is said to be their forever home, where they will live even after William accedes the throne<\/a> upon his father’s death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW King Charles started his summer stay at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with a welcome ceremony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7730,7731,1760,7710,519],"class_list":{"0":"post-378616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-charles","10":"tag-charles-iii","11":"tag-king-charles","12":"tag-royal-families","13":"tag-royal-family"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115102836673879165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378616","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=378616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}