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from Victoria’s day as the long-horned and long-haired Highland cattle browse in the
distance. Elizabeth is patron of the Highland Cattle Society and started the Balmoral
herd soon after her accession in 1952. She has had three male champions in a row
recently and has a ‘fold’ of thirty breeding cows. She also breeds Highland ponies (and
has had the champion stallion at the Royal Highland Show for several years), fell ponies
and Austrian Halflingers, which have chestnut coats and blond manes and tails like
palominos. While Philip is responsible to Elizabeth for the private estate here (as he is at
Sandringham), and the day-to-day management is overseen by the Factor, she takes a
great interest in it and rides out every day to see what is going on. The red deer which
Victoria found so picturesque are today a problem at Balmoral as they are on every
Highland estate. The Balmoral estate is a founder member of the Grampian Deer
Management Group; there are some 4,500 deer roaming the estate, kept out of newly
planted areas by 6ft fences. There are 72,000 acres of forestry managed according to
conservation principles – trees lie where they have fallen as shelters for beetles and
other forms of wildlife. Philip is interested in regenerating the native forest: the deer are
kept out by fencing and native pines replanted. Elizabeth finds small saplings and puts
protective covers round them, the Prince of Wales puts up tree shelters. The huge antheaps
are carefully preserved because the ants clean the trees and eat aphids off them.
Shooting is an important part of the Balmoral day as it is at Sandring-ham, and
Elizabeth brings her gun-dogs with her. At Balmoral, however, when the Queen’s Piper
plays round the castle for twenty minutes each morning, the labradors and spaniels in
the royal kennels put their noses in the air and howl in protest. The cherished corgis of
course accompany their mistress and are allowed to hunt rabbits out of the small space
of cultivated garden close to the castle. There are problems when Elizabeth goes to see
her mother at Birkhall (or anywhere else). Her mother’s corgis love her, but the two
packs don’t get on and on one occasion there was a fatality when the two packs fought.
Both Elizabeth and her mother adore their dogs and will not have a word said against
them. It is the custom for the corgis to have dog biscuits thrown to them after lunch. On
one occasion, apparently, a nervous bishop took a biscuit from the footman’s tray and
ate it; on another, a guest, taken by surprise when a footman’s white-gloved hand
appeared next to Her Majesty and biscuits were cast round him on the floor like manna
and feeling there was a sharp furry swirling round his feet and – dangerously – his lap,
attempted a joke: ‘My dogs beg too, Ma’am.’ Elizabeth’s retort was icy, ‘My dogs don’t
beg.’ Intimations that they might yap or snap are also unwelcome. Corgi duty, the
preserve of the Queen’s footman, is not generally popular. The pack can vary from
seven to eleven. They are taken out for a walk every morning. Elizabeth feeds them
herself at 5 p.m., their main meal – the food is prepared and she mixes and gives it to
them. Then they are taken for another walk – this can be difficult as they never like
leaving Elizabeth and tend to resent the efforts of a subordinate trying to tell them what
to do. Moreover, they will be scattered all round a room, under a curtain, behind a sofa,
and all have to be retrieved. Mealtimes can be embarrassing for guests as there may be
noisy canine altercations under the table and the guests don’t know how to react. Corgis