Do you believe in ghosts? According to historian Richard Felix, Queen Camilla certainly does! During a chat in the latest episode of A Right Royal Podcast, the Most Haunted expert revealed that the royal won’t go into Dumfries House after feeling a spirit in the vicinity. Find out more…
Speaking in the Halloween special of the podcast, Richard explained: "I speak to [a number of people who] ring me and say, ‘We bought this house and everything was fine until we started doing some work on the house’. A prime example of that is Dumfries House.
"I’m not sure who [haunts it] – I think it might be the Marquess of Bute – they had the most fantastic collection of Chippendale in that house and the King bought it when he was Prince Charles, he had it renovated, and apparently Queen Camilla would not go in the place.
"She went in there once and then said, ‘Oh, I can’t go in here, there’s something here.’ She would not go in, she said there was a spirit or entity in the house that wasn’t happy! And again, King Charles was having it renovated so it’s the same old story."
Camilla spoke about the house herself on The Real Camilla back in 2018, explaining: "I remember the first time I walked up the steps, got into the hall and I thought, 'I can't go any further.' I literally froze. If my hair could stand on end, it would have done. I remember leaving and thinking I don't want to come back here again and I didn't for a few years."
However, she confirmed that she finally visited the house after her husband King Charles had finished renovating, saying: "Whatever was there had disappeared. The whole thing seemed to be smiling again."
However, other royals are much more light-hearted about potentially staying in haunted residences, with Richard explaining Prince William’s reaction to hearing that Amner Hall is home to the ghost of a priest. "Funnily enough, when the Prince and Princess of Wales moved into Anmer Hall, there is a ghost in there of a Catholic priest who lived there and who was hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and for some reason has returned to his home,” Richard explained. "They’ve heard his voice and they have seen the ghost of what they say is a priest wandering around Anmer Hall, and before the Wales’ moved in, they were warned about the ghost.
"The comment was, I presume it was from Prince William, he said, 'No old hall would be complete without a ghost, would it?'"