Pictures taken today when the Queen met the Governor General of Canada, Julia Payette, show that the study inside Her Majesty’s Scottish home has largely remained the same from a photo taken 40 years ago.
Although the 91-year-old monarch now has a Sky box, she has the same furniture and accessories inside her home rather than wasting cash on the latest gadgets.
There is a simple convection heater in the great marble fireplace that sells on the high street for a reported £20.
Similar heaters have been seen in other rooms in the castle as the Queen tries to keep household costs to a minimum.
A photo taken of the Queen and Price Philip in the library in 1977 shows some of the books have even stayed in the same place for the last 40 years.
Sir William Fraser’s books on the chiefs of Scottish clans are some of the books still in the same place decades later.
Another shelf in the bookcase shows there is a model of the Royal Yacht Britannia in a bottle.
Other pictures show material from the Queen’s old sofa from the 1970s have been re-used as cushions for the new one.
The room is traditionally decorated and furnished with a suite of two armchairs and a sofa with the Queen’s’ favourite skirt style.
The Queen is well known for her no-nonsense style and thriftiness, despite earning around £76million a year.
She reportedly sends items out for repair rather than investing in new ones when they break.
The Queen wore a red blouse, beige cardigan and a tartan skirt today when she met the Governor, which was a practically identical outfit to when she met the Governor-General of Australia to Balmoral in August 2014.
General Payette, a retired Canadian astronaut, was scheduled to meet with Prince Charles on Wednesday too.