King Charles and Queen Camilla share Buckingham Palace with nearly 500 employees, 188 of which have staff bedrooms at the royal residence.
Yet when the monarch inherited the property from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, nothing could have prepared him for the fleet of unwanted visitors that reportedly frequent the halls of the Palace.
Speaking on a Halloween episode of HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast, paranormal historian Richard Felix explained that Buckingham Palace is believed to be haunted by a monk, and the King wasn’t keen on meeting the spooky resident. "Apparently, he’s not too happy about Buckingham Palace."
Richard explained: "Again, it’s haunted by the ghost of a monk… basically, Buckingham Palace was actually built on a site that belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey. This monk, we don’t know what happened to him, but he’s seen with a cowl, in other words, his hood, wandering through the halls of Buckingham Palace." Listen below to find out more...
Historical properties have troubling and turbulent pasts, including many deaths and occasionally murders, so it's unsurprising that thoughts turn to the supernatural.
In the first series of the podcast, Ailsa Anderson, the former press secretary to the late Queen, also revealed a haunting story from when she stayed at the famous royal residence. Ailsa spent the night at Buckingham Palace, and a horrifying encounter with an unkown figure in the early hours made her run back down the corridor.
Windsor Castle is also said to be haunted with many stories of sightings of deceased royals. According to Visit Britain, Queen Elizabeth I is most often seen in the library, where her "footsteps can be heard on the bare floorboards, before her striking presence appears".
In Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland, author Richard Jones also recalls the story of a guard at the castle seeing Queen Elizabeth I's ghost in the outer room of the library.
The King's Norfolk home Sandringham House isn't without its spooky tales either. In fact, rumour has it that some of the staff refuse to work in one of the downstairs bedrooms because it is so haunted. It is the room in which George VI lived during the months before his death.
Royal biographer Kenneth Rose wrote: "Some of the servants had complained that the room was haunted and did not want to work in it. The person walked from room to room and did indeed feel some sort of restlessness in one of them."
Given the chance, would you stopover at one of the royal residences?