BALMORAL CASTLE
Sir Robert Gordon died in 1847, and the lease on Balmoral reverted to Lord Aberdeen. In
February 1848 it was decided that Prince Albert would acquire the remaining part of the
lease on Balmoral, together with its furniture and staff, and the couple arrived for their
first visit on 8 September 1848. Victoria found the house "small but pretty",and recorded
in her diary that: "All seemed to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the
world and its sad turmoils
CastleRoyal Family
The house was quickly found to be too small, and John and William Smith were
commissioned in 1848 to design new offices, cottages and other ancillary buildings.[11]
Improvements to the woodlands, gardens and estate buildings were also being made, assisted
by the landscape gardener James Beattie and the painter James Giles.[5] After seeing a
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