A PRINCE’S PASSION
Prince Charles reveals his love for the Highland Games – which finally gain a permanent home this month.
Make your way around the Highlands and Islands of Scotland from the end of May to mid-September and, chances are, somewhere along the way you’ll encounter the Highland Games. Fields and greens, often tucked away in the shadow of high mountains, will be filled with the spectacle of cabers being tossed and boulders being hurled while bagpipes sound and people dance.
The Highland Games are an embodiment of Scottish culture, as important as Burns Night. More than 100 Highland Games ‘gatherings’ take place across Scotland, from Braemar to Stirling, Inverness to Portree on Skye, Carloway on Lewis to Blair Atholl.
Until now, however, one element has been lacking: a permanent home and visitor centre for the Games. The opening of the The Duke of Rothesay Highland Games Pavilion on Saturday 1 September – the day of the games in the tiny village of Braemar – addresses this. “It’s been designed to tell a story of a living tradition – one of history and how that history lives on today through the annual Games,” says Michael Harris, associate director of projects at The Prince’s Foundation who worked with the Braemar Royal Highland Society (BRHS) on the design and creation of the Pavilion.
Inside the Pavilion is an exhibition hall and gallery containing a collection of artefacts and pictures that tell the story of the Games, from their early beginnings to more recent events and the figures who’ve played a part in them, such as the all-conquering heavyweight Bill Anderson. The Pavilion’s £2.2 million price tag has been met by donations from Scotland and overseas.
IN KEEPING WITH TRADITION
Located on a plateau above Braemar’s games field, the Pavilion has been designed sympathetically to blend in with the landscape and adhere to the architectural principles of the Prince of Wales, the patron of the Games. “Braemar has a strong sense of
“The Pavilion tells the story of the Games, from their early beginnings to more recent events”
architectural character that echoes its natural environment,” says Harris. “[There’s] a timeless language of craftsmanship in the Highlands and The Duke of Rothesay Highland Games Pavilion aims to continue that tradition. Projecting eaves with exposed, profiled timber rafters mimic the shape of the eagles found in the BRHS’s shield, while finial posts and granite chimneys are found throughout Braemar.”
Harris spent several days walking around Braemar “to get a feel for the area,” says Robert Lovie, deputy executive director of The Prince’s Foundation. “The Prince wasn’t going to allow a carbuncle there,” he adds.
ANCIENT TIES
Braemar is an appropriate place for the Pavilion. “Some of the Highland Games can be commercial – they have to be. But come to the Braemar Gathering and time stands still,” says Lovie. Even the name ties today’s event to its origins, according to Lovie. “The word ‘gathering’ goes right back to what was special about the events in early communities – gatherings happened to celebrate good weather, the harvest and so on. The Highland Games came out of these gatherings.”
The Games originally provided the chance for men (and it was men then, although today woman also compete) to show off their physical prowess so the clan chieftain could choose the best bodyguards and fighters. Tests of strength were devised with materials the people had at hand: riverbed stones were used for shot putting and pine trees were shorn of their branches to see if anyone could flip them end over end. Yet while brute strength was an asset, musicians and dancers were also essential to reinforce the cultural identity of the clan and wider Scottish and Gaelic values.
The origins of the Games go back 1,000 years. The first reference to them dates to the reign of Malcom III (1058-1093), when the king is said to have summoned men to race up Creag Choinnich to find the most fleet-footed royal messenger.
The Games have also served as a weather vane during times when Highland culture has come under pressure. The tradition was halted following the Act of Proscription, which came into effect in 1746 and was intended to dismantle Highland life, culture and society, and even during the Highland clearances, the Games carried on informally. “There’s evidence of river stones being used away from the public eye,” says David Geddes, president of the BRHS.
The lifting of the act in 1782 reinvigorated the Games, though their modern incarnation is dated to the Braemar Gathering of 1815, when a mutual assistance society of wrights (builders) was formed to provide funds for widows of soldiers killed in the Napoleonic Wars. A visit from Queen Victoria in 1848 gave further impetus.
“The games are very much part of our culture and heritage,” says Geddes. “The sports are the same as they were a few hundred years ago. It’s important to keep that link.”
“Tests of strength were devised with materials the people had at hand”