Queen Elizabeth had a wonderful day in the country in Scotland with Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla, and the family was all smiles as the Duke of Rothesay, as he is known in Scotland, wore a dress kilt to the Braemar Highland Games.
Express shared photos of the day of traditional Scottish sports in Aberdeenshire in the village of Braemar. The queen is a patron of the annual event, which sees Scotland’s finest compete in traditional events such as “hammer throwing, a tug of war and tossing the caber.” Also in attendance was Princess Anne’s son, Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn.
Braemar is a short drive from the queen’s Scottish residence at Balmoral where she spends most of her summer with family and friends. In addition to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, the monarch had Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds briefly as guests, but they reportedly left early to deal with the charged political situation back in England.
The Braemar Highland games are always held on the first Saturday in September at Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park, and organizers say that the day was nearly sold out.
“The sporting events include athletics, piping and dancing competitions as well as a tug of war and caber tossing – a traditional Scottish event where competitors toss a large tapered pole called a caber.”
Prince Charles enjoys a glass of whisky as he dons a traditional tartan kilt during a visit to the most northerly distillery in Scotland https://t.co/meHKV3Oivx
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) July 29, 2019
The event has been taking place since 1832 and was first attended by Queen Victoria in 1848. David Geddes, president of the event said that the games getting bigger each year.
“We’re expecting a large crowd – we have less than 100 seats left, and there are 7,000. We’ve also sold a large number of ground tickets for entry to the park which is unusual, because we don’t normally sell them till the day.”
For most events in Scotland, Prince Charles chooses to wear the Balmoral tartan, which according to The Scottish Register of Tartans was designed by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, in 1853. It is gray, red and black with large checks, and it’s also available in a smaller “sett” for children’s kilts and cloaks.
It can only be worn by members of the royal family, and others with the permission of the queen, including her official piper, the estate workers, and ghillies at Balmoral Castle and estate. According to the Register of Tartans, the Balmoral was originally woven only by Romanes & Paterson of Edinburgh.