Picnics, party games and shooting - what Keir Starmer is likely to face at Balmoral this weekend

The King is hosting Sir Keir Starmer at Balmoral for his first official weekend at the royal retreat as Prime Minister.

Sir Keir and his wife Lady Victoria Starmer are following convention and spending a few days at the Scottish home of Charles and Camilla.

Prime Ministers over time have often reflected on the Balmoral weekend and the activities organised - from picnics to party games and shooting outings in the hills.

Last summer, former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife spent the weekend at the monarch’s Aberdeenshire home and went to church with the royal couple.

Prime ministers are traditionally invited to stay with the head of state at Balmoral during the summer, and in the past decades Harold Wilson, who is said to have “got on like a house on fire” with Queen Elizabeth II, would join members of the royal family for riverside picnics on the Balmoral estate.

READ MORE: What it is like reporting from Balmoral

But things were very different with Margaret Thatcher, who reportedly found the traditional September weekend at Balmoral painful.

One observer wrote: “A weekend in the country with aristocrats who enjoy riding, shooting, sports and games is Thatcher’s idea of torture.”

Mrs Thatcher could not abide the charades that she was expected to play after dinner at Balmoral.

During a gathering of six of her premiers, the late Queen once joked about “the party games which some of you have so nobly endured at Balmoral”.

When Parliament is sitting, the King and Prime Minister meet for a weekly audience and the two men sat down for a meeting at Balmoral.

The discussions are likely to have taken place in the castle’s library, which was once Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s breakfast and lunch room and today is used by the King as his working study where he welcomes dignitaries.