Balmoral Castle in Scotland has recorded its highest number of visitors in five years.
The rise in tourist numbers comes after Britain's Queen Elizabeth moved out of the world famous residence in order to give tourists free rein of the property.
Gary Marsden, the estate's visitor enterprise manager, observed it had been "a very good year".
He explained: "We are about five per cent up on last year and we are very pleased. They are the best figures for five years and a near record.
"We had a good number of overseas visitors too. About 40 per cent of our visitors come from abroad - with Germany the biggest market. As well as numbers being up, so was the visitor spend too."
Tourist revenue now accounts for roughly half of the £3 million running costs of the castle, according to officials, who also confirmed that total number of visitors went past 70,000.
The estate is typically open to the public between April and July.
However, as the Queen was in Scotland earlier than usual for the Commonwealth Games, tourists were still able to visit the property - a privately owned residence of the Queen - at the end of July.
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