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The surprising hobby the Queen does only once a year while at Balmoral - VIDEO

The Queen loves a bit of Scottish dancing!

the queen country dancing
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The Queen has many interests that the public are well aware of, most notably her passion for horses and horse racing, and of course, her love of corgis, but the official royal website has revealed one little known hobby about Her Majesty – she loves Scottish country dancing. According to the site, the royal hosts dances for neighbours, estate and Castle staff and members of the community every year while staying at Balmoral.

princess elizabeth dancing canada© Photo: Getty Images

The Queen has kept up the tradition for decades

A resurfaced clip from 1990 shows the monarch taking part in the the Eightsome Reel, a Scottish country dance, with the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, Princess Anne and Prince Charles at the Ghillies ball at Balmoral Castle. In the video, Her Majesty opens up about tradition, explaining: "If you live in this sort of life which people don't very much, you live very much by tradition and by continuity. I think that's one of the sad things that people don't take on jobs for life, they try different things all of the time. As far as I'm concerned, you'll know exactly what you're doing two months hence, and even know about next year. I think this is what the younger members found difficult is the regimented side of it."

The Eightsome Reel, Ghillies ball at Balmoral

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The Queen continued to explain the importance of being trained for her role, saying: "You have to sort of, work out in your own mind the hard work and what you enjoy in retrospect from it of the people you've met like the small soldier I was giving a gallantry award to and I said, 'That was a very brave thing you did,' and he said, 'Oh it was just the training'. And I have a feeling in the end the training is the answer to a great many things. You can do a lot if you're properly trained and I hope I have been."

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