Queen’s servants left freezing at Balmoral Castle after Storm Arwen cut off power for five days

THE Queen’s servants were left freezing at Balmoral Castle after Storm Arwen cut off the power for five days.

The skeleton staff were battered by 90mph winds and blizzards at the Royal’s Highland estate.

But Balmoral sources said the castle workers kept warm by helping the locals.

They used wood-burners and camping stoves to deliver hot water to cut-off cottages and provide soup for pensioners.

It comes after I’m A Celebrity’s Gwrych Castle in North Wales was evacuated in the storm.

Balmoral’s power is now back on but some remote hunting lodges and cottages on the 50,000-acre estate remain cut off.

One insider said: “The staff are a very ­hardened bunch as winters in the Highlands can be tough. But ­without heating it was freezing.

“Everyone rallied round. The ­castle had no special treatment.

“Everyone was saying it’s a good job the Queen stays at Windsor or Norfolk in December.”

🔵 Read our Royal Family live blog for the latest updates

Northern Powergrid said 6,000 customers were still without power, with more snow and rain forecast.

Soldiers were set to visit locals in storm-hit Weardale, Co Durham.