Forget Rio, Charles much prefers the games in Mey

IT may have been the first day of the Rio Olympics but the sport, sand and samba extravaganza had no appeal for Prince Charles.

For him there was no contest when forced to choose between the world’s greatest sporting event and the smallest Highland Games in Scotland.

The Prince, known in Scotland as the Duke of Rothesay, chose to spend the day enjoying the tartan, caber-tossing and tug o’ war at the overcast Mey Games in Caithness. As chieftain of the games he has attended every year since the death in 2002 of the Queen Mother, who never missed one event after buying the Castle of Mey in 1952 and becoming the gathering’s patron.

Yesterday, for the second year running, the games had to be held seven miles away in John o’ Groats because the Mey field was waterlogged. The Mey Games and the Balmoral Highland Gathering are the only Highland games in Scotland to have royal patronage.

Organisers paid tribute to the Prince’s loyalty, saying: ‘It is largely due to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Rothesay, that the Royal British Legion Mey Games continue to thrive. One of the highlights is the tug o’ war, usually umpired by Prince Charles.’

And yesterday the Prince did just that, to the delight of 400 locals and tourists from all over the world. The winners were a scratch team from Canada, formed on the day. Team leader Dave Rahme from Ontario said: ‘The Prince congratulated us and said we had shocked the crowd.’

Charles was in stitches watching the antics of Megan Ashpool of Canisbay, a one-woman dressage team ‘which just missed out on the Olympics’, on a black-and-white hobby horse.

Ten-year-old Keira Meikle, who lives in Mey with her brothers Daniel, eight, and James, five, gave the Prince a posy and said later: ‘He was very nice. He talks very posh.’