Where to holiday like the royal family: from Scotland to Mustique

Exclusive? Tick. Beautiful? Tick. Cultural? Tick. 
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Alice Howarth13 February 2018

It must be pretty fun planning a getaway if you’re a royal.

Mega budgets, few time restrictions (no 20 days a year holiday here), a private plane where you’ll definitely get a full bed and a host of staff to insure the itinerary reflects only the best excursions - we’d definitely enjoy one of their jollies.

But what places live up to the high expectations? What places will deliver beautiful scenes, amazing food and much needed privacy? A diverse range of locations it turns out.

Below, is where the royals like to max and relax - from the Queen to Prince Harry and Meghan

Scotland

Shutterstock / Byunau Konstantin

Everybody knows the Royals love Scotland. They have Holyrood palace in Edinburgh but their first love is of course Balmoral. The family retreat here for both privacy (it’s where they went in the wake of Princess Diana’s death) and holidays.

Their trips will usually include shooting, fishing and stalking weekends on their estate (it’s around 50,000 acres), trips to remote Highland beaches (Sandwood is reportedly their favourite stretch of sand) and the odd horse riding trip.

Every year the entire family will take at least one summer break here. Unsurprisingly, this is one royal holiday location you can’t choose to visit - this particular Scottish castle is not open to the public.

Kenya

Alamy

Africa holds a special place in the Royal family's heart. It’s a continent that has been visited countless times by various generations.

Kenya was actually the country the Queen was holidaying in when she found out that she’d inherited the throne. She went back to the same hotel - the Treetops Hotel - in 1983 for another visit.

Fast forward to 2010 and it’s in Kenya’s Lake Retunda at the bottom of Mount Kenya that Prince William pops the question to Kate. They’d been enjoying a break at Lewa Safari Camp.

Botswana

Menoakwena

Another place in Africa that has the Royal seal of approval is Botswana - it actually played a crucial role in the romance of Meghan and Prince Harry.

The couple enjoyed their first trip together here and went glamping. During their engagement announcement they both agreed that the holiday really helped to cement their relationship. They actually returned last summer for another trip.

Fun fact: Harry bought one of the diamonds in Meghan’s ring from Botswana.

Nevis

Shutterstock / Art Boardman

Nevis was Princess Diana’s favourite island in the West Indies. Harry first visited it with her back in 1993, when the pair stayed at the Montpelier Plantation and Beach Inn and he returned in November 2016 as part of his official tour on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.

Rumour has it, this could be where Meghan and Harry choose to honeymoon.

The Alps

Shutterstock / makasana photo

The Royals do love to catch some powder during the winter months and almost always go to Europe. Klosters, the ultra exclusive resort village in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, actually has cable cars named after him due to the amount of times he’s holidayed here.

Other loved destinations include Courchevel, where Prince William and Kate took Princess Charlotte for her first skiing holiday, and Lech which was a favourite of Princess Diana as well as Prince Andrew and Fergie.

Mustique

Shutterstock / Aeryon

A private paradise island away from relentless paps that stars, multi-millionaires and aristocrats feel at home in - this is where Princess Margaret holidayed and hosted royals for over 30 years and it's little wonder it well down well with the blue blooded.

Mega-expensive, you can rent the entire island, fly in on private jets, rent super-luxe villas and there’s no shortage of activities the royals tend to love - think horse-riding (polo, anyone?), sailing, scuba diving and tennis.

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