The price was £32.000, and in the autumn of the same year, Prince Albert formally took possession of Balmoral. At the same time, the neighboring estate of Birkhall was purchased (now owned by King Charles III).
The first of fourteen stone cairns was also built on the hills overlooking the castle (one of them is on the Birkhall estate). The mounds commemorate members of the British royal family and events from their lives. Most of them were built by Queen Victoria.
The largest mound was built by the Queen in memory of her husband, Prince Albert, after his death in 1861.
