Queen Victoria and the Braemar Gathering

Braemar – Geography and History

The modern village of Braemar, located in the upper valley of the River Dee, lies at its confluence with the River Clunie, about 60 miles west of Aberdeen, Scotland.  The name is Gaelic for Upper Marr and originally referred not to the village but to the area which lies west of Aboyne.  Two significant settlements bordered the Clunie, Castleton lying on the east bank and Auchindryne, located west of that tributary, close to the Dee.  They now form separate parts of the modern village.  Braemar had an historically important, strategic position at the intersection of long-distance routes through the Grampian Mountains linking Aberdeenshire with Perthshire to the south and west, and Inverness-shire and Banffshire to the north.  The village lies at about 1,100ft above sea level and enjoys dramatic views of the high Cairngorms.  In this study the name “Braemar” will take its modern meaning.

Castleton, Braemar

Because of its strategic location, Braemar has, over the centuries, seen its share of significant historical events.  King Kenneth II of Scotland (died 1005) is said to have come to the area on a hunting trip and the hill Craig Choinnich (Kenneth’s Hill), just east of the modern settlement, commemorates that association.  King Malcolm III of Scotland (Malcolm Canmore) reigned from 1058 to 1093 and visited the area about 1060, also on a hunting expedition.  While there he is reputed to have held a great gathering of the clans at which competitions were held for feats of strength, courage and skill.  Malcolm Canmore is also credited with having bridged the Clunie and with building Kindrochit Castle close by.  Its ruins are still in evidence.

Throughout the Reformation of the mid-16^th century and despite turbulent times in Scotland, Braemar stuck largely to the Roman Catholic religion and even today a significant proportion of the population cleaves to this traditional Highland faith.  In 1715, following the 1707 Act of Union, which excluded Catholics from the throne of Great Britain, the Earl of Mar, the major landowner in the area, initiated the Jacobite rising in Braemar.  This was an attempt to return the Catholic James Francis Edward Stuart to the throne and was carried out under the pretext of a clan gathering.  The 1715 rising and the subsequent 1745 rebellion were put down.

Suppression and revival of Highland culture

The Jacobite rebellions led, in 1746 to the passing of the Act of Proscription which sought, by a series of measures, to assimilate the Highlands into the life of both Scotland and the rest of Great Britain through the suppression of Highland culture and the ending of the clan system.  The wearing of traditional Highland dress, such as kilts, plaids and hose, the carrying of arms and cultural symbols, such as playing the bagpipes, were forbidden.  Bagpipes had originally been used to summon clansmen to arms.  This proscription ended with the repeal of the legislation in 1782, by which time ordinary, poor Highlanders had abandoned many of their traditions, for example they were now wearing breeches of hodden grey (undyed, hard-wearing woollens), rather than kilts.

But telling people that they cannot have access to something makes it more desirable.  Thomas Macaulay (1800 – 1859), a historian and Whig politician said of Highland attire, “As long as the Gaelic dress was worn, the Saxons had pronounced it hideous, ridiculous, nay grossly indecent.  Soon after it had been prohibited, they discovered that it was the most graceful drapery in Europe.”  There was a revival of interest in Highland dress, traditions and symbolism but it was led, not by the working people of the Highlands but by the middle and upper classes, many of them based in London.  The Highland Society of London was established in 1778 by 25 Highland gentlemen to enhance the interests of the northern parts of Scotland and still exists today to promote the traditions and culture of the Highlands and Islands.

Sir Walter Scott (1771 – 1832), the Scottish poet and historical novelist, became very popular with a series of historical novels, perhaps the most famous of which, Waverley, published in 1814, dealt with the Jacobite rising of 1745.  Scott was influential in promoting the revival of Highland culture and this brought him into contact with the Prince Regent, later George IV.  Two years after the latter’s succession to the throne in 1820 he visited Edinburgh.  Scott was engaged to stage-manage a series of spectacular cultural events, of dubious authenticity, for the monarch.  The occasion was marked by a wild show of tartan, worn both by the king and by many of his northern subjects.  The design of the tartan worn by the King approximated to today’s Royal Stuart pattern.  This exercise was very successful and put a royal seal of approval on the revival of Highland culture.  Thereafter everyone wanted to wear the tartan and this led to each clan resurrecting traditional designs, though there were few in existence and a proliferation new designs resulted. There was also a boom in the manufacture of tartan cloth.

The Braemar Wrights Society

The Braemar wrights (vrichts), from about 1800, assembled annually in their white aprons to march through Auchindryne and Castleton.  It was a jolly occasion, with pipes playing and ended with competitions of skill and strength, the whole probably lubricated by whisky.  In 1815 the wrights formally established the Braemar Wrights Society, which derived an income from member subscriptions and disbursed benefits to members and their dependants who had retired or fallen on hard times.  In 1828 the Society invested in two girnals, large wooden boxes, each holding about 100 bolls of oatmeal (about 14,500 litres).  This was for the purpose of speculation in the price of oatmeal to gain additional funds.  The purchase of oatmeal stopped in 1847 on the repeal of the Corn Laws.  From 1824 the Wrights held an annual dinner at the Invercauld Arms Hotel (one of two major hotels in the village, the other being the Fife Arms) at a cost of 1/6 a head and in 1826 the Society evolved into the Braemar Highland Society, without losing its charitable functions.  The year 1831 saw it became a registered Friendly Society, on the passing of legislation.

During the Middle Ages, Kindrochit Castle was replaced by a new structure, located on the south bank of the River Dee, east of its confluence with the Clunie.  In turn the second castle was substituted, in 1628, by the rather austere Mar Castle, or Braemar Castle, as it is called today.  Following the 1745 rebellion, the castle was a garrison for Hanoverian troops, whose job it was to suppress any signs of further insurrection in the neighbourhood.  After 1822, the garrison became unnecessary and was run down.  In 1831 the castle was returned to the landowner, the Laird of Invercauld, at that time Catherine Farquharson.  The other major, contemporary landowner in Braemar was the Earl of Fife, whose seat was at Mar Lodge, located about 4 miles west of the village.  Also, in 1832, the Marquis of Carmarthen (later the Duke of Leeds) took a 19-year lease to Mar Forest and other lands from the Farquharsons of Invercauld.  All three landed proprietors were supporters of the Braemar Highland Society and, more generally, promoters of Highlandism.

The evolution of the Braemar Gathering and the landed proprietors

Prior to 1831, the annual Braemar Highland Society meeting had been held on the market stance in Castleton but, in that year, it was moved to the grass park south of Braemar Castle and this location became its usual home for many years.  The first year of sponsored games, approximating to the modern format, was held on Thursday 23 September 1832, with total prize money of £5 (about £500 in 2018 money) offered for four events, putting the stone, throwing the hammer, tossing the caber (or bar as it was then often called) and a running race.  There was also a prize for the longest service by a member.  This last competition was a device frequently used by landowners, for example at agricultural shows and ploughing matches, to encourage the notoriously foot-loose labourers to stay with one employer.  The 1832 event started with a procession of the Farquharson and Duff clans (Duff was the clan name of the Earl of Fife), headed by the clan chiefs, before the commencement of the games.  A ball was held in the evening.  Thus, the Braemar event was usually referred to as the Braemar “Gathering”, rather than “Highland Games”, the Highlanders’ march echoing the historical gatherings of the clans in the area.  From 1865 the organisers were granted permission to add “Royal” to the title. 

The report of the 1832 Gathering in the Perthshire Courier gave a detailed list of the Important personages present but no mention of the games.  At this stage in the evolution of such events, they were occasions when important people attended to be seen and attendees were only sporadically entertained by the competitions of an athletic or cultural nature.  A similarly slanted report followed the 1833 event, too.  This was the norm for decades to come and it was 1841 before the Perthshire Courier made even a brief mention of the winners of athletic events.

Francis George Godolphin D’Arcy D’Arcy-Osborne (1798 – 1859), was Marquess of Carmarthen from 1799 to 1838 and Duke of Leeds from 1838.  After taking a lease to Mar Forest he was keen to polish his Highlander credentials.  The Marquess became an honorary member of the Braemar Highland Society and then smartened up his retainers by providing each of them with full Dunblane tartan (a newly-created pattern) Highland costumes, Viscount Dunblane being one of his subsidiary, and Scottish, titles.  His example was quickly followed by his neighbours at Mar Lodge and at Invercauld House.  At the time of the 1836 games, both the Earl of Fife and Mr Farquharson of Invercauld were out of the country. The Marquess of Carmarthen happily stepped forward to substitute for his absent neighbours by presiding at the Gathering.

The expansion of the competitions by increasing the number of categories being contested was a progressive trend.  Highland dancing, at least as a demonstration activity, had been introduced by 1841, when the sword dance was “much admired” at the ball.  The following year a prize was offered for reading in the Gaelic language and its translation.  Also, in that year a dancing competition was held at the end of the ball at which prizes were given for the best dancer of the “celebrated Strathspey, Ghillie Callum and other national steps”.  A steeplechase involving the ascent of the local hill, Creag Choinnich, over 700ft higher than the starting line, made its appearance in 1843.  This event was later discontinued by Queen Victoria’s request after a competitor burst a blood vessel on the ascent.  It was replaced by a hurdle race across the River Dee in 1865, the first winner being the renowned Deeside athlete Donald Dinnie (see below).  Eighteen forty three also saw the inception of a prize for the best-dressed Highlander.  In 1850 there was even a prize for the Highlander who had worn Highland dress, the philibeg, for the longest time (11 May to 12 August). The high leap and long leap were also being contended by 1843, the tug of war was introduced in 1876 and in 1895 vaulting with a pole was added to the list of events.  By 1850 there was a prize for the best piper and by 1872 there were no fewer than six prizes for bagpipe music.  In 1851, the dancing competitions were moved outdoors to the arena, where they were performed on a raised platform within sight of all attendees at the Gathering.  From time to time special prizes were donated for unusual competitions.  In 1857, three prizes were given by Mrs Farquharson of Invercauld for Shepherd’s Tartan Plaids manufactured in the district from home-spun Blackface wool.

The popularity of the Braemar Gathering as an event of the summer season was gaining in profile with the upper classes.  In 1843 the Newcastle Journal noted that, “Most of nobility and gentry wearing full Highland dress”.    That year’s event also received possibly its first Royal visitor when Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, wearing full Highland dress, attended as a guest of the Duke of Leeds.  An examination of contemporary newspapers shows that 1843 was the first year in which there was widespread reporting of the Braemar Gathering, even though the publications mostly copied each other. The following year, the Perthshire Courier attributed much of this increased popularity of the Gathering to the enthusiasm of the Duke of Leeds.  “It owes its resuscitation of late years to his grace the Duke of Leeds who as Viscount Dunblane maintains a regular following and himself wears the dress and full accoutrements of a Highland Chieftain.”  There was another Royal visitor in 1844, His Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, then a British army officer.  He probably enjoyed himself, because he made an appearance the following year, too. The enthusiasm of the Duke of Leeds for the Braemar Gathering continued, but the irony is that the Duke of Leeds was an Englishman, albeit one who liked to masquerade as a Scot!

Queen Victoria and Highlandism

Queen Victoria was born in 1819, the only child of the Duke and Duchess of Kent and christened Victoria Alexandrina.  Thus, her early life occurred within the period of the revival of Highland culture and multiple references show the impact of this fashionable trend on her environment.  Even at the early age of six months, a painting of the future monarch as an infant portrays her wearing a Scotch bonnet with a tartan ribbon.  There is no doubt that the young Victoria imbibed an enthusiasm for things Highland.  In 1834, when she was 15, Victoria sent her half-sister a “Scotch” dress and the pattern for a new tartan.  In 1837, the Queen’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, referred to Scotch bonnets bearing a tartan ribbon as, “currently the height of fashion for little English boys of the first rank”.  Victoria ascended to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland in the same year and in 1840 she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a union of two young people deeply in love with each other. In the next 17 years, Queen Victoria bore nine children, Victoria (b 1840), Albert (b 1841), Alice (b 1843), Alfred (b 1844), Helena (b 1846), Louise (b 1848), Arthur (b 1850), Leopold (b 1853) and Beatrice (b 1857).  The children were all dressed in tartan and kilts at various times in their young lives.  For example, in 1842 Albert Edward, her eldest son, wore a robe of Stuart tartan and two years later he wore a kilt of Rothsay tartan.  The Duke of Rothsay is a subsidiary title of the heir apparent to the British crown, so such a pattern seems to have been appropriate for Prince Albert Edward, even though it was only designed in 1842!  This last example was the first true reference to tartan in the monarch’s journals.

Queen Victoria family group, with tartan kilt

Queen Victoria’s early visits to Scotland

Queen Victoria first visited Scotland with the Prince Consort in 1842, taking in both Edinburgh and the Highlands.  The Royal couple were entertained at Taymouth Castle by John Campbell, the 2^nd Marquis of Breadalbane.  She would have been delighted to see Lord Breadalbane’s men dressed in the kilt.  It probably helped to convince her that Scots always wore the kilt though, on this occasion, Breadalbane had arranged the attire to please his Royal visitors.  In 1843, the Queen appointed her own piper, one Angus Mackay.  Important Scottish landed proprietors each had their own piper, though at this stage Queen Victoria was not one of them.  Her second journey North of the Border was in 1844, when Victoria and Albert sailed to Dundee on the Royal yacht and visited George Murray, Lord Glenlyon, at Blair Castle.  Later, in 1846, he became the 6^th Duke of Athole,.  His private army, the Athole Highlanders, provided a guard during the Queen’s stay and impressed Her Majesty by their Highland dress and bearing.

In the summer of 1847 Victoria and Albert made their third visit to Scotland, sailing in the Royal yacht up the Irish Sea to the Western Isles.  The Royal couple ended their Caledonian holiday with a visit lasting a month to the remote Ardverikie estate at Loch Laggan, Inverness-shire, then tenanted by the Marquess of Abercorn, an early deer-stalking enthusiast.  During this sojourn in Inverness-shire, the monarch got her first exposure to Highland games and confirmed her deep affection for the Highlands.  She wrote, “I love this place dearly and the quiet, simple and wild life we lead here particularly – in spite of the abominable weather we have had.”

The Queen had been subject to several cack-handed assassination attempts in the early 1840s, which worried her and there was also an ongoing concern at the potential threat from the Fenian movement, which sought to gain Irish independence through violent means. Partly for security reasons, but also to seek tranquillity away from the Court in London, the Royal couple decided to look for property in remote locations.  In 1844 they leased the Osborne estate on the Isle of Wight and then bought it at the end of that year.  By 1846 they had built Osborne House in the Italianate style for their personal use, protected from malcontents by the Solent.  A Detective Meiklejohn was assigned to Royal protection duties and had to scrutinise passengers arriving on the Isle of Wight for Fenian suspects, but he never had grounds for detaining anyone.  During their visit to the West Coast of Scotland in 1847 they were again on the lookout for an isolated bolt-hole.  Although the likes of Ardverikie fitted the bill from the point of view of remoteness and scenic grandeur, the almost incessant rain dampened their enthusiasm for the Western Highlands.

The acquisition of Balmoral

The Queen appointed Sir James Clark, a Scot who had been born in Cullen, Banffshire, as her personal physician in 1837 and in 1840 he also took medical responsibility for Prince Albert.  Clark accompanied the Queen on her 1847 visit to the west coast of Scotland.  Coincidentally, his son, John Forbes Clark, was staying with Sir Robert Gordon, brother of the Earl of Aberdeen, at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.  John was recuperating from an illness and wrote to his father telling him that Deeside was enjoying good weather.  This information was relayed by Dr Clark to the Queen.  Her thoughts of taking a Scottish estate then switched from the western Highlands to Aberdeenshire.  Sir Robert Gordon had taken a 40-year lease to the Balmoral estate from the freeholder, the Earl of Mar.  In October 1847 Sir Robert Gordon died suddenly at Balmoral while eating breakfast and one consequence of his demise was that the 20-year balance of the estate lease devolved to his brother, the Earl of Aberdeen.  He knew of the Queen’s property aspirations and suggested to her that she might take the balance of the Balmoral lease.  After considering a report on the area commissioned by Prince Albert and after viewing a portfolio of paintings provided by the Aberdeen artist, James Giles, the Royal couple decided to lease Balmoral, sight unseen.  The Queen and her husband planned to visit their new Scottish property for the first time in the autumn of 1848.  The Earl of Aberdeen asked the local medical practitioner, Dr Robertson, to assist the Royal family to settle in on Deeside.  They must have been impressed by the doctor, who was a native of Perthshire and who had provided medical services in the Aberdeenshire village of Tarland, before starting a practice in Crathie, the village which was part of the Balmoral estate.  In July 1848 he was appointed as Her Majesty’s Commissioner (estate manager) at Balmoral.

The 1847 Braemar Gathering

The year 1847 witnessed the last iteration of the Braemar Gathering before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert became Deeside residents.  By this time, the Gathering was essentially fully-developed in its pattern of activities as the following, striking account from the Scotsman newspaper illustrates.

“The Braemar Gathering came off last weekwith even more than the usual eclat.  The Duke of Leeds had a large party at Mar Lodge including the reigning Duke of Nassau and suite and the Duke of Athole with a following of more than half a hundred gentlemen.  On Tuesday the General and Lady Duff entertained Nassau and a distinguished circle to dinner and the following evening gave the Braemar Highlanders a torch-light ball.  Amid a blaze of torches almost equal to daylight numerous groups of Highlanders in their native costume were performing to the sound of a dozen bagpipes several of their most spirited and characteristic dances.  The neighbouring heights were lighted up and it seemed as if the whole inhabitants of this district had come forth to enjoy the enlivened scene.  Thursday morning, luckily for all parties, broke forth fine and about noon carriages and vehicles of all sorts began to arrive and continued to pour in till there was neither stall nor quiet corner in the commodious hotels of Braemar to be procured for either love or money.  The Highlanders in their various costumes assembled opposite the old Castle of Mar (Braemar Castle) and marched in procession, according to custom with their chiefs at their head.  They then ranged themselves round the space roped off for the athletic games and presented a very striking and picturesque appearance.  The competitors for the prizes were not more numerous than usual, but they displayed great skill, dexterity and agility.  After the sports were over, two hundred sat down to an excellent dinner served up in the banqueting hall of the old castle and an adjoining room.  The Duke of Nassau and the other visitors at Corriemulzie and Mar Lodge were of the party.  A grand ball was given in the castle in the evening and was attended by several hundreds.  Several prizes were awarded to the best dancers and the mirth and jollity were kept up till an early hour.  Altogether, the Braemar festivities of this year were of a most delightful character and gave the highest satisfaction to all who participated in or witnessed them.”  The Duke of Leeds certainly knew how to throw a party!

But, note the balance between the various activities recorded.  It’s essentially a report about the upper classes enjoying themselves and being seen to enjoy themselves, before, during and after the Gathering.  These were big-wigs sailing on a sea of Highland symbolism, in which the athletic games were the least significant item, being allocated only eight words!  This was also an occasion for ordinary people to gawp at their betters.  But the event was due to receive a major boost to its appeal to all social classes from the presence of a new proprietor, who was about to take up residence a few miles down the road from Braemar.

Queen Victoria’s first visit to Deeside and the 1848 Braemar Gathering  

On Tuesday 5 September 1848, Queen Victoria, her children and courtiers boarded the Royal Yacht “Victoria and Albert” at Woolwich and, with a navy escort, sailed for Scotland.  The Royal family arrived at Aberdeen harbour on 7 September but did not disembark until the following day to begin their journey along Deeside by coach, finally arriving at Balmoral for the first time at 2.45pm. After lunch the Queen and Prince Albert immediately set out to explore their now property, climbing a local wooded hill, possibly Craig Gowan.  Prince Albert was soon out with his rifle to try to bag a deer, but he was not immediately successful.  The Royal couple was particularly struck by the scenery.  Sunday 10 September saw the Queen and Prince Albert attend divine service at Crathie church, mingling with the village people on the walk back to the castle across the footbridge from the church.

1848 Braemar Gathering, Invercauld House

After her first attendance at a service at Crathie church, the Queen expressed disappointment at the absence of kilts.  However, Her Majesty’s enthusiasm for the kilt and tartan continued unabated, as the Inverness Courier noted.  “Her Majesty’s partiality for the tartan is manifested more and more every day.  Scarcely anything else than tartan was worn by the Royal Family and their attendants at Balmoral and we understand that our spirited townsman of the Tartan Warehouse Mr D Macdougall who has done so much to popularise the Highland dress has received an extensive order from Her Majesty.  Tartan dresses, shawls, plaids, etc have been ordered for the Queen herself, a full Highland costume by HRH the Prince Consort and full dresses of costly description for the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred.  All Prince Albert’s hillmen are also furnished with Highland dresses for the hills with ornaments for holiday occasions.”  The Queen clearly had not understood, and perhaps she never grasped that, at that time, the kilt was not normal attire for the local people, even on a Sunday.  This view was confirmed in 1870 when the Queen discovered that some of her outdoors staff had been wearing knickerbockers.  She fired off an irritable memorandum demanding that her keepers and ghillies should wear the kilt of Balmoral tweed, unless given special dispensation to don trousers.

    

Exploration of the Balmoral estate interspersed with more slaughter of Cervidae continued into the next week, until Thursday 14 September, the day of the Braemar Gathering.  Queen Victoria’s journal gave her immediate impressions of this annual Highland festival. “The morning was a little dull & showery when we walked out after breakfast, but it soon cleared, & we met people on foot & on ponies going to the Gathering, to which we all went after on early luncheon. The Children, Lady Gainsborough, & Miss Hildyard were in the Char-a-Bancs with the Boys in full (Highland) dress. The Gathering took place at Invercauld only 9 miles from here which is in a magnificent situation. The evening was beautiful, bright & warm M^r & M^rs Farquharson, & Sir Alex.  Duff received us. We stood on a terrace, where there were many people, with a splendid view of Lochnagar, the Lion's Face, in front, & the Mar Forest, to the left. Immediately below the Terrace were stationed the Highlanders, including the Duke of Atholl & his men, the Duke of Leeds & his people in the wonderful Plaid he has invented for them (author’s emphasis) & the Duff & Farquharson men.  (About two years later, the Queen and Prince Albert would invent their own tartan design, the Balmoral tartan, which was not entirely original, being essentially the Royal Stuart with the base colour changed from red to grey.) Some of the games had already taken place, & we saw the throwing of the Hammer, & running straight up Craig Cluny. Each year the Gathering takes place at Invercauld is very largely attended. Both M^r & M^rs Farquharson are pleasing people & have a very fine family of 12 children, the oldest 14, & the youngest, 3 months old, 8 sons & 3 girls were there, very fine, nice boys. We afterwards saw Reels danced in a tent & I gave 4 prizes. After going into the house, full of shooting trophies, we went home as we came & took a walk by the river. It was a mild charming evening. — D^r Robertson, the addition to our dinner."

However, the Dundee, Perth and Cupar Advertiser gave a broader, more extensive and balanced account of the conduct of the Gathering, making clear that the presence of the Queen had had an enormous impact on attendance on this occasion by the ordinary populace.  “The yearly Braemar Gathering took place on Thursday (14^th) under circumstances of more than ordinary interest.  It having been understood that Her Majesty and the rest of the Royal Family would honour the occasion with their presence, the utmost enthusiasm was awakened throughout the neighbouring districts.  On the appointed day hundreds might be seen dressed in their holiday attire and wending their way from every point of the compass towards the locality appointed for the gathering.  Ballater and some of the villages were almost literally emptied of their inhabitants and every description of vehicle and beast of burden were in constant demand.”

The paper continued with a description of the location and the scene.  The games took place in front of Invercauld House, not the usual venue just south of Braemar Castle, on a lawn of about four acres, lying below the level of the house.  A terrace had been built at the higher level, with three “handsome rustic garden seats” for the use of the Queen and her party.  A carpeted footpath led from the carriageway to the Royal seats and a large square of Royal Stuart tartan cloth had been spread out in front of the Royal position.  The Farquharson Highlanders mustered about 1pm in plaids and kilts of the clan tartan and were soon joined by 98 of the Duke of Athole’s men, who enjoy the role of the Queen’s bodyguard in Scotland.  Their dress consisted of a black velvet jacket with silver buttons and plaids and kilts of Athole tartan.  Their mountings were of silver and “of the most handsome description” and each man displayed a sprig of juniper in his bonnet.  Two standards were on display, one bearing the arms of the chief.  The followers of the Duke of Leeds were dressed in Dunblane tartan and the Fife Highlanders displayed the Duff tartan.  (The following year the tartan invented by the Duke of Leeds received a polite put-down from the Aberdeen Journal, his men being described as “finely accoutred if not with historical correctness at least with correct taste.  The tartan was a large check formed on a greyish ground by alternate stripes of red and yellow”.)  Finally, a contingent of the Earl of Airlie’s men was present.  A wide range of traditional arms was carried by the various clan representatives, with Lochaber axes, broadswords and targets (small round shields), accompanied by other military accoutrements.  The Lochaber axe was a kind of halberd with a hook behind the blade, which was used for scaling walls.

 

The Queen arrived at 2.30pm accompanied by Prince Albert, HRH the Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Alfred and HRH the Princess Royal, plus Sir George Gray, Sir James Clark, the Hon George Anson, the Hon Captain Gordon, Lady Canning and Viscountess Gainsborough.  The Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred wore Highland garb but the Queen and Prince Albert were dressed plainly.  This being the Queen’s first visit to the Gathering, the athletic games were started on the lawn “most of them being not so much for the purpose of competition as to exhibit the nature of the games to Her Majesty”.  She donated £5 to the winner of the race to the top of the 700ft high hill, Craig Clunie.  Curious to see the full range of Highland culture, the Queen then asked to see some traditional dances and eight men from each clan were detailed to proceed to the ballroom inside the Invercauld House.  There they performed five reels and in appreciation Her Majesty presented a prize to one man from each clan.  After taking dinner in the House, the Royal party departed for Balmoral at 4.30pm.  A two-hour stay would prove to be the limit of the Queen’s tolerance over the next 51 years.

Putting the stone


Tossing the caber

After the exit of the Royal party, “the competition games were pursued with great vigour”.  But that was not the end of proceedings.  Dinner for 300 VIP guests was laid on by the Farquharsons in a large tent next to the House, followed by a ball, with more noisy Highland dancing in the ballroom, which was festooned with evergreens and stags’ heads bearing antlers.  The ball, as was usual on these occasions, went on far into the night.

The Braemar Gathering – cancellations, Royal attendance and absence

Between 1848, when the Monarch first attended the Braemar Gathering and 1900, the last occasion on which this Highland festival could have been held before her death, there might have been a maximum of 52 iterations of the event.  In fact, the meeting was cancelled on eight occasions and of the 44 held, Queen Victoria attended 20 of them (45.5%).  Death was the reason for cancellation in each case, almost always the death of a senior member of the Royal family or a senior family member of one of the Gathering’s patrons.  The events which were cancelled, with reasons, were as follows.  1862 – Death of Prince Albert, the Prince Consort; 1863 – Death of Mr Farquharson of Invercauld; 1870 – Death of Mrs Farquharson of Invercauld; 1879 – Death of the Earl of Fife; 1888 – Death of Colonel Farquharson of Invercauld; 1892 – Death of the Duke of Clarence; 1896 – Death of Prince Henry of Battenberg; 1900 – Death of the Duke of Edinburgh and mourning the loss of life in the South African War. 

The Braemar Gathering - venue

In the years 1831 to 1886, inclusive, the Braemar Gathering was held at Mar Castle, or Braemar Castle as it is now called, on every occasion except one.  In 1848, the year of Queen Victoria’s first attendance, it was held in front of Invercauld House.  Both Braemar Castle and Invercauld House were on the Invercauld estate of the Farquharson family, who must have shouldered a considerable financial burden over the years.  The reason for the switch of venue has not been uncovered but could well have been due to the anticipated visit of the monarch.  Perhaps the Farquharsons wanted to impress their new Royal neighbour with the magnificence of their family seat with its extensive lawns, in comparison with the rather austere Braemar Castle and its more limited and sloping (see below) sports arena?

Braemar Gathering at Braemar castle

1887 was the year of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, marking 50 years since she ascended to the throne.  It was therefore fitting that the Royal Braemar Highland Society should agree (they had little choice faced with a Royal command) that Balmoral should be the venue for the Gathering in that year.  Indeed, 1887 marked the start of a period extending to 1901, the year of the Queen’s death, when the venue chopped and changed frequently.  In 1889, the Gathering took place at Old Mar Lodge on the estate of the Earl of Fife.  It was the only occasion that this venue was used.  The following year, 1890, the event returned to  Balmoral and in 1891 it was held on the Farquharson estate, but this time at Clunie Park in Castleton and the Gathering stayed on Farquharson land for its next four iterations, 1893, 1894 and 1895 – all at Braemar Castle, 1897 – at Clunie Park.

Braemar Gathering, Clunie Park?

Queen Victoria had been a supporter of the Braemar Gathering for 50 years and in 1898, the event returned to Balmoral.  The following year, 1899, would be the last year within her reign that the event was held and the last Gathering that the monarch attended.  Fittingly, it too was held at Balmoral, the Royal home in the Highlands that she and the late Prince Albert had chosen and developed together.  During the reign of Victoria’s eldest son, King Edward VII, the Braemar Gathering was held at Clunie Park from 1902 to 1905 before it moved to its present, permanent home, the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial  Park, a 12 acre site in Auchindryne, presented to the Royal Braemar Highland Society by the Duke of Fife in 1906.


1849 Balmoral Highland Games

No doubt enthused by their experience at the Braemar Gathering the previous year, on 29 August 1849 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert held their own Highland games for employees on the Balmoral and Invercauld estates at Balmoral.  The Royal Consort and their neighbour, Colonel Gordon, wore the kilt for the occasion but the games were not a great success.  Few of the Highland employees took part in the events.  John Bowman a ghillie from Invercauld won throwing the hammer and Charles Duncan, a ghillie and carpenter on the Balmoral estate won tossing the caber and the running race.  The games were followed in the evening by dancing in a temporary building.  This seems to have been more successful, being described as "very merry". 

1859 Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

In 1859, the Braemar Gathering took place as usual on Thursday 1 September in front of Braemar Castle.  The Queen did not attend, nor any other member of the royal family, possibly because she had only arrived at Balmoral from Edinburgh the previous day at the start of her autumn break.  However, this was a year in which the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) met in Aberdeen under the presidency of Prince Albert.  He took this appointment seriously and gave a well-received presidential address to the attendees.  In return for the public honour the Prince had received, the royal couple invited officers and members of the BAAS to visit Balmoral on the afternoon of Tuesday 22 September.  This was an opportunity for the Queen and Prince Albert to show off their Highland property and their credentials as Highland proprietors and promoters of Highland culture, to the country’s leading scientists.  The entertainment lasted from 2pm to 6pm and took the form of a replica Braemar Gathering, held on the lawns in front of the Castle.  Initially the Highland Gathering was limited to BAAS members but then extended to include their wives and finally thrown open to the public.  In total there were about 3,000 attendees.  The Queen watched the arrival of the visitors in “huge omnibuses & other vehicles, laden with Philosophers, &c”.

 

It had been arranged for the Farquharson, Duff and Forbes Highlanders to be present, of course togged up as though it had been the real Braemar Gathering.  The Queen had even managed to get the heads of the visiting clans to attend and lead their men, Col. Farquharson, Lord Fife and Sir C Forbes respectively.  Augmenting the ranks of the visiting Highlanders was a guard of honour from the 93^rd Regiment and employees of the Balmoral estates in kilts of Royal Stuart tartan.  All the clans were accompanied by pipers and were drawn up to form a guard of honour to receive the Queen and the rest of the Balmoral party.  It all conformed to the Queen’s notion of what a Highland event should comprise, as she described in her Journal for the day.  “It was a beautiful sight, in spite of the frequent slight showers, which at 1^rst tormented us, & the very high, cold wind. There were gleams of sunshine, which with the Highlanders in their brilliant, picturesque dress, the wild notes of the Pipes, the Band, & the beautiful background of mountains, rendered the scene striking in the extreme.”  The royal family too had donned Highland dress, “… Albert & the Boys in Kilts, I, & the girls in Royal Stewart skirts, with shawls, over black velvet bodices …”.

Following the exotic show of the arrival ceremony, the Highlanders set to in athletic competitions, followed by dancing, with the royal party watching from the terrace, flanked by the “Savants”.  The Queen and Prince Albert watched for almost three hours, a longer time than they would normally devote to attendance at the Braemar Gathering.  Her Royal Highness was clearly satisfied with the events of the day.  “Watched the Highlanders marching away, from the window, also, the different people walking off, & the mighty omnibuses filling with such curious people. — When all had gone, we took a short walk, to warm ourselves. Much pleased at all having gone off so well.”

The artist Egron Lundgren recorded the events of the day in an evocative painting contrasting the top-hatted, becloaked, umbrella-bearing, bemused “philosophers” with the kilted, hirsute, prancing Highlanders.  This watercolour is now in the Royal Collection.  In later years, the local press confused this one-off event with the real thing and even John Michie, from 1880 the Head Forester at Balmoral, also paraded this false opinion.

1859 Balmoral Games

1863 The Earl of Fife’s games

In 1862 no Braemar Gathering was held as a mark of respect for Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who had died in December 1861.  The Gathering for the following year was also cancelled following the death of Mr James Farquharson of Invercauld, head of the Clan Farquharson, in November 1862.  He had been the main sponsor of this event, along with the Earl of Fife.  However, the Earl decided he would mount his own substitute meeting, to be held at Mar Lodge on Saturday 28 September.  There was again confusion in the press as whether this was the true Braemar Gathering or not, for example the Northern Whig reported, “Great preparations are taking place for the Braemar Gathering at Mar Lodge which the Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to attend.”  The Banffshire Journal made the same mistake.  The Earl of Mar, intent on putting on a good show, ordered his men to turn up for drill practice and inspection of “garbs”.  While many Farquharson Highlanders turned out, most of the Forbes men from Donside did not make the journey over the hills, due to the death of the brother of Sir Charles Forbes,  The Athol Highlanders too did not show up due to the illness of their chief.  The Queen could not attend, as she was away in Coburg visiting relatives.  At least the Prince and Princess of Wales made the journey up Deeside to be present, the Prince in his kilt of Royal Stuart tartan and his wife in a dress of Victoria tartan.  The Grim Reaper seemed to have been intent on disrupting Upper Deeside gatherings in 1863!

The Braemar Gathering - timing

Although the modern Braemar Gathering is held on the first Saturday in September, this was not always the case.  Between the mid-1840s and the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901, the event was almost always held on a Thursday in August - September.  The three exceptions were Tuesday 26 August 1845, Tuesday 25 September 1854 and Friday 10 September 1858.  Despite these variations in day and date, the bulk of meetings were held on the last Thursday in August or the first or second Thursday in September.  Occasionally changes to the date were made at the request of the monarch.  In 1850 the Gathering had originally been planned for 5 September but was put back by a week to accommodate royal wishes.  Although 1884 was a year when the Queen was absent from the Gathering, due to the death of her haemophilic son Prince Leopold, Prince Albert Edward of Wales substituted for her.  However, due to an engagement in Aberdeen on 28 August the original date set, the event was again postponed by one week to accommodate him.  In 1893, the event was postponed for one week due to the death of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the elder brother of Prince Albert, the late Prince Consort.

The Braemar Highland Society

The society adopted this name in 1826 and in 1831 became a registered Friendly Society.  It maintained its Friendly Society function, even when the annual Gathering became dominant in the late 1840s.  This growth in prominence of the Gathering gave the Society added leverage over its members.  By 1856 it was requiring all its members to attend the Gathering in Highland attire, which helped to ensured that the Gathering retained its Highland complexion.  It also required contestants in the Society’s events to be members and this no doubt boosted the annual income from membership fees.  But this ruling had the unwanted and perhaps unanticipated consequence of excluding the best performers at national level and, in athletic terms, the Gathering, while attracting audiences due to its royal connection, was not noted for athletic excellence.  By 1860, this problem had been partly fixed by having additional open competitions with prizes paid for by wealthy visitors, as well as Society competitions restricted to members.

The rules of the Society governing eligibility to compete, even for its members, were Byzantine in their complexity.  The Aberdeen Journal gave an explanation in 1866.  “By the Society’s rules the competitions are open to all members, but each person is only allowed to carry off one prize of the same class at any particular meeting and when a competitor has gained first prize in any of the sports he is ever afterwards excluded from obtaining the same prize.  There are challenge medals, however, open to be competed for by winners of first prizes until they shall have been awarded the medals three years in succession when they become the property of the gainer who is then excluded from prize-taking altogether unless there shall be extra or open competitions  for which rewards are specially given by visitors.”  Thirty years later, John Michie, then a member of the Braemar Highland Society Committee, was utterly frustrated by their archaic rules and inability to move with the times.

Donald Dinnie

Donald Dinnie was a son of mid-Deeside, having been born at Birse, near Aboyne in 1837.  As a youth, he quickly became an outstanding Highland games athlete, specialising in the heavy events and was recognised as the best such athlete in Scotland and possibly in the world for many years.  This Deeside athlete and strongman first competed at the Braemar Gathering in 1860 but, not being a member of the Society, he was limited to only a few competitions.  Dinnie won three first prizes for putting the 28lbs stone, one from the Honorary Fund, one provided by Mr Farquharson and the third a competition medal.  The Queen noticed his presence though she did not remember his name.  In her Journal she wrote, “A new man from Aboyne won almost all the prizes, at least for throwing the hammer & putting the stone.”  The reference to throwing the hammer was due to Donald Dinnie making the longest throw but being ineligible for the first prize.

Donald Dinnie as a young man

Between 1860 and 1873, the Braemar Gathering was held on eleven occasions and Donald Dinnie was present on all but one of them.  He also competed in 1876 before departing for more lucrative competitions away from Deeside and especially abroad.  Dinnie was a routine first prize winner in those events in which he was qualified to compete at Braemar, typically putting the stone, throwing the hammer, tossing the caber, running and standing high leap and long leap.  He won most events that he entered at the Braemar Gathering and when not first, he came second. Donald was a great favourite with the crowd, though his personality was somewhat deficient in both tact and honesty. (see “The Life of Donald Dinnie (1837 – 1916) Revisited” on this blogsite)

 

Two anecdotes are told about Prince Albert and Donald Dinnie.  When the Prince first noticed Dinnie performing he asked who he was and received the reply that he was the Deeside Champion.  The Prince’s response is said to have been in the form of a witty pun, “Dee-side champion!  That he is dee-cidedly!”  On another occasion Prince Albert is said to have arrived at the Gathering after the heavy events were over and the Committee urged the competitors in the caber to return to the ring to put on a display for the royal visitor.  All agreed except Dinnie who refused to take the field unless he was paid £2.  This was refused and the demonstration went ahead without Dinnie’s participation.  Now, the caber was Donald Dinnie’s speciality, needing both strength and skill, and the other assembled athletes all failed to turn the log as required.  Observing this deficiency, Dinnie overcame his own objection, took the field and turned the caber with a single toss.

Clan attendance

The Earl of Fife and Farquharson on Invercauld, heads of the two clans, Duff and Farquharson, were the principal sponsors of the Braemar Gathering from the 1840s.  They were the, more or less, ever-presents throughout the 19^th century in terms of sponsoring the Gathering, in providing it with a venue and in sending along a contingent of Highlanders to march to the venue on the day of the Gathering and to provide a guard of honour for royal visitors and other VIPs.  Until 1851 these Highlander contingents were sporadically bolstered by other clans.  The Duke of Athol sent a large contingent from his private army on several occasions, as did the Earl of Airlie, and the Duke of Leeds was also a strong supporter, while he was the lessee of property in the Braemar area.  From 1850 the Forbes clan, the Men of Lonach, regularly marched across the hills from Donside to add to their bekilted brothers on the banks of the Dee.  In 1852, the Athol men did not attend because they were still engaged in the hairst (harvest), making the point that the attendance of dozens of estate servants could have a significant economic cost.

March-past of the clans

But what of the new proprietor, installed at Balmoral from 1848?  She had appropriated the Royal Stuart tartan for her own and thus her men could stand, distinctly clad, shoulder to shoulder with the neighbouring clans.  Surely, she should be represented appropriately at this local Highland extravaganza?  Although at this time, September 1849, the Queen did not call her retainers “Balmoral Highlanders”, they were dressed distinctively in Victoria tartan and headed by the Queen’s piper, Angus McKay, when they took their place alongside their more numerous neighbours at the Gathering.  There was a similar turn-out the following year “few in number but handsomely attired”.  On the next occasion for the Gathering in 1851, the Queen was absent from the show due to the Court being in mourning, though there were official representatives from Balmoral, including Dr Robertson, and the Balmoral servants were allowed to attend.  It is unclear if they went uniformed or in mufti.  And, for many years, that was the limit of Balmoral’s formal representation in the ranks of the clans at the Braemar Gathering.   

In the period from 1853 to 1860 Highlanders from the Duff, Farquharson and Forbes clans marched and formed the guard of honour at the Gathering.  Then, for the next decade to 1871, the attendees were the Duff and Farquharson clansmen alone.  This was a period when the Braemar Gathering went through uncertain times, as will be seen.

The year 1872 saw a new group of Highlanders on parade at the Gathering, not representing a clan but drawn from the ranks of the Ballater and Crathie Rifle Volunteers, 60 of whose members under the command of Lieutenant Deans paraded along with the Fife and Farquharson Highlanders, though they actually assembled with the Farquharson men.  It is likely that some of the Volunteers were Balmoral employees.  After this year the Volunteers were present at most Gatherings, but increasingly associated with the Farquharson Highlanders, being included with the Farquharson men in the post-Gathering dinner thrown by Mr Farquharson.

The Balmoral Highlanders, identified under that name, reappeared at the 1874 Gathering, according to a report in the Dundee Courier.  Another appearance was made in 1876.  The Aberdeen Journal reported, “A detachment of the Crathie Highland Volunteers under Lt Deans joined with the retainers upwards of 30 of whom appeared for the first time in uniform.”  But this was to have been a false dawn and it was 1887, when the Gathering was held at Balmoral for the first time that the Balmoral Highlanders effectively made their debut.  Forty of their ranks mustered, led by Pipe Major Ross, decked out in Royal Stuart tartan.  Their first role was to form a reception party for the arriving Fife and Farquharson men at the Balmoral (Brunel) bridge.  Thereafter, until 1899, the last Gathering of Queen Victoria’s reign, the Balmoral Highlanders were ever-present.

In 1889, the next year of the Gathering, the venue was Old Mar Lodge on the estate of the Duke of Fife.  The Queen attended and took her seat while a 30-strong contingent of the Balmoral men, commanded by Dr Alexander Profeit, who had succeeded Dr Robertson as Commissioner at Balmoral in 1874, marched past in single file.  At their head was John Michie, Head Forester, holding the new Royal Standard in silk, followed by Ross and Campbell, the Queen’s pipers.  The Balmoral men had taken to carrying Lochaber axes (a kind of halberd, a traditional weapon) and this became one of their distinguishing features, along with the Royal Stuart tartan and a thistle and an oak leaf in the bonnet.  The Farquharson men wore a sprig of fir in their hats and the pipers sported eagle feathers.  In the following years the Balmoral men typically mustered 30 – 35 men for the Gathering.

Public attendance at the Braemar Gathering

No reports of the numbers attending the Gathering exist before 1887, when it was estimated that at least 4,000 were present.  However, the attendance of royalty and especially the Queen boosted interest in the Gathering from Deesiders and tourists alike after 1848.  Even in 1858 the crowd must have been essentially local, as the Aberdeen Journal reported that the attendees were still extensively speaking the Gaelic.  The Gathering of 1887, which was at Balmoral for the first time, saw a big increase in attendance to 4,000, though others optimistically put the figure at 8,000 – 10,000.  The press suggested that the public were not present to see the competitions but to gawp at royalty on their home territory.  In terms of numbers, this was the most successful Gathering at that date.  The 1890 crowd estimate, when the Gathering was again held at Balmoral, was 7,000 – 8,000.  Thereafter the crowds fluctuated, influenced in particular by the state of the weather and the presence, or not, of the monarch. 

The biggest crowd of Victoria’s reign was undoubtedly 1898 when the Gathering came to Balmoral for the penultimate time.  On this occasion 14,000 – 15,000 was the estimated number of attendees, according to the Aberdeen Journal “larger and more fashionable than ever before”.  The Queen gave the rather precise estimate of 13,483 attendees in her Journal.  A remarkable 751 bicycles were counted on site.  Without doubt, the Braemar Gathering at this time was the place to be seen at the end of the summer season.  The following year, 1899 was the last Braemar Gathering of the Victorian era and, fittingly, was also held at Balmoral.  On this occasion the numbers attending were down by perhaps 2,000 – 3,000 from their peak.  The Queen was clearly fascinated by the success that the Gathering had attracted when held at Balmoral and she drove down to the Lodge near the Balmoral bridge to watch the arrival of some 350 clansmen and the crowd.  She wrote in her Journals that “An immense number of breaks, coaches, wagonettes, bicycles, &c. passed by.”

Accidents and incidents

Probably because the Braemar Gathering was always held in proximity to the river Dee and involved athletic pursuits such as hurling heavy hammers into the heavens, accidents and incidents were not infrequent.  The Dee can change over a few hours from a shallow but rocky river to a raging torrent of fast-moving water.  In 1850 there were two tragic drownings associated with the Gathering.  A young man, an intending participant, went for a swim at Castleton on the morning of the Gathering.  The current was too strong for him and he did not survive his immersion.  The same afternoon another attendee crossing the river to reach the lawn in front of Braemar Castle, where the Gathering was taking place, saw a child’s body in the water.  On recovering the corpse, he realised that it was his own child.

As ever, alcohol consumption was and is rife at the Gathering.  In 1859, the Elgin Courier made its point about the Gathering, “… giving all the ghillies, gamekeepers and flunkies in the district a holiday and a night of carousing enjoyment.” sometimes led to amusing and even tragic incidents.  In 1891, when the Gathering was being held at Clunie Park, Braemar, such an occurrence was reported by the Aberdeen Free Press. A drunk on the Invercauld side of the river took off his coat and attempted to swim across while the river was in a swollen state.  He started to flounder, and the crowd rushed to the bank to watch the unfolding drama.  The drunk eventually reached the south side in an exhausted state and then struggled to clamber out, repeatedly falling back, but was eventually helped to gain dry land by the onlookers. 

  

In 1850, one competitor burst a blood vessel during the exertions to reach the top of Craig Choinnach in the hill race, though he was not killed or seriously injured as a result.  During the 22 lbs hammer competition in 1878, a young man was hit under the armpit by a flying missile.  Dr Profeit, the Balmoral Commissioner and a local general practitioner, attended the casualty, who, miraculously, had escaped without serious injury.  At the same event, the horses pulling a carriage panicked and bolted through a gate, the vehicle being badly smashed as it impacted the gate post.  There do not seem to have been any human or equine casualties from the incident.

Queen Victoria’s attendance at the Braemar Gathering

There is no doubt that the acquisition of the Balmoral estates from 1848 onwards and the monarch’s subsequent attendance at the Braemar Gathering helped to raise the profile of that meeting with the wealthy tourists already frequenting the Highlands in mid-century.  In the first decade of her Highland proprietorship (1848 – 1857 inclusive) the Queen attended the event, accompanied by other members of the royal family, on eight out of ten occasions.  This led to the claim, oft repeated, that the monarch had a special affinity for the event and for the competitions on offer.  But right from the start, the Queen made clear that there was a limit to the amount of time she was prepared to spend at the Gathering.  She never remained for more than 2.25 hours and more typically her attendance lasted from 1.5 hours to 2 hours.  This required the competitions to start before her arrival, to be paused to organise the Highlanders into a reception party for her arrival and, usually, for the program to be completed after her departure.  The Caledonian Mercury reported in 1866, “It was almost 4pm when the Queen arrived.  She departed shortly after 5pm”. The monarch never attended the dinner, nor the ball, held after the competitions had ended.  

Hints of her disenchantment with the occasion were evident as early as 1849.  In her Journal entry she wrote, “The Gathering itself was but a poor affair.”  And in 1850, “After this, we went into the Castle & saw some dancing, — nothing very particular.”   The Queen’s next attendance was in 1852, when her muted grumbling continued.  “The Highland games & dancing, in the open, went off well, but as usual, it was a very slow affair.”  A similar reaction came in 1853.  “The Games & everything were just as usual, — always rather hanging fire.”

There had been no attendance by Her Majesty at the Gathering in either 1851 or in 1854, the former year due to her being in mourning for her uncle, Prince Ferdinand and, in the latter year, because she had not then arrived at Balmoral from Osborne House.  Mild carping continued once the Queen’s attendance at the event had resumed.  1856. “After an early luncheon, we drove over to Braemar for the Gathering, which was not full, the Duffs not bringing over their men!”

After 1857, Queen Victoria entered a period of 29 years, up to and including 1886, when she only turned up at the Braemar Gathering on five occasions out of the 25 years when the event was held.  Of course, this included the years after Prince Albert’s death (1862 -) when the Queen was depressed and mourning her departed love. but, by the end of the decade she certainly gave the impression of having recovered her composure.  Her rare attendances at the Gathering thus started before the death of Prince Albert, continued through the years of depression, persisted during the time when she had a close relationship with John Brown and were maintained after Brown’s death in 1883.  In the three years of the Gathering immediately before Prince Albert’s demise, 1858, 1859 and 1861, when the Queen was not present, Victoria was in residence at Balmoral on the day of the meeting, but in no case did she give a reason in her Journals for her non-attendance.  For the first two years she did not even acknowledge that it was the day of the Gathering.

Queen Victoria with John Brown outside the Iron Ballroom

The monarch did manage to gain some enjoyment from her attendance at the 1860 Gathering, which saw the emergence of Donald Dinnie as a force of nature.  “The games were more entertaining than usual …”.  Perhaps the Deeside champion was the reason, or maybe it was just the sunny weather?

Ever since 1849, turning up for the Braemar Gathering had been viewed as, at best a duty but, in the last few years of Prince Albert’s life, his wife had come to regard this event as a chore, to be avoided, if possible and to be minimised, if not.  Attendance by her family, her courtiers, her commissioner and even her prime minister substituted for the monarch.  The curiosity about 1859 was that while the Queen did not attend the real thing, she took satisfaction from the success of her own version of a Highland gathering, which was organised at Balmoral for her guests from the BAAS.  “Much pleased at all having gone off so well.”

After 1861, the monarch’s existing disenchantment with the Braemar Gathering was reinforced by her depression following Albert’s death and the long period of rare attendance stretched out to 1886.  The year 1864 was the next iteration of the event, where she did not show up.  It was not acknowledged in her daily writings.  In the following three years, her depressive state was still evident.  1865 – not attended. “All our people going to the Gathering, & though I should not have wished to go I felt low & sad at the contrast with former times.”  1866 - attended. “All, but the dancing, & hurdle races were over by the time we came & the whole thing was very dull.”  1867 – not attended. “All the family, & everyone else in the house, went to the Gathering, only Jane C. & Harriet P. remaining with me. — Took tea on the lower Terrace with Jane & then rode with her & Harriet round Carop, going up by Bowman's Moss, & along the high path, where I so often used to follow my beloved Albert.”  On this and other occasions, it appeared that the monarch had put off taking a decision about making the journey to the last minute.  The Aberdeen Journal reported in 1867, “Contrary to general expectation and we believe to Her Majesty’s original intention, the Queen did not attend the Gathering.  But it turned out that Her Majesty had gone for a day’s drive by way of Loch Muick, giving permission to the servants of the household to visit the Gathering.”  And again, from the same source in 1886, “But when the rain started it was anticipated that the Queen would call off and she did.”  Attendance at the Braemar Gathering was clearly never top of Her Majesty’s priority list. 

The fallow period for Victoria and the Gathering continued, though she often had valid reasons, clearly expressed or not, for avoiding travel to Braemar.  In several years (1868, 1869, 1880 and 1882) she was not in residence at her Scottish home at the time of the event.  Ill-health dogged her for many years and was in evidence at Gathering time in 1871, 1876, 1877 and 1883. A large abscess on the Queen’s arm was lanced three days before the Gathering in 1871.  In her Journal, the Queen gave an account of the operation.  “Everything was got ready & the 3 Doctors came in. Sir W^m Jenner gave me some whiffs of chloroform, whilst M^r Lister froze the place, D^r Marshall holding my arm. The abscess, which was 6 inches in diameter was very quickly cut & I hardly felt anything excepting the last touch, when I was given a little more chloroform. In an instant there was relief. I was then tightly bandaged & rested on my bed.”  In 1886 the Gathering was organised for 26 August, Prince Albert’s birthday, a depressing time for Her Majesty.  Other years saw no excuse offered for the Queen’s non-attendance at the Gathering (1872, 1873, 1881, 1884 and 1885).  On some occasions, even though Queen Victoria had decided to absent herself from the Gathering, she could not resist driving out at the time when the crowds were streaming back along the North Deeside Road, to observe their passing.  This happened in 1872, 1873, 1881, 1885 and 1886.  “Tea out near the Cottage, then drove with Beatrice & Jane C. along the high road, nearly as far as Braemar & met no end of people returning from the Gathering, in every possible kind of vehicle. It was quite amusing to see.”  This account is from the Journals for 1872.  Perhaps the monarch felt some guilt at her non-attendance at the Gathering and was checking on its success in order to dissipate her embarrassment?

Press criticism

The newspapers were often sycophantic when reporting royal attendance at the Braemar Gathering, as with all events involving the monarchy.  But this stance was not universal. Criticism was expressed, on occasions, both by the radical organs and by traditional ones, who were not as enamoured of Highland culture as was the monarch and her entourage.  The press had various targets in mind. 

The lack of top athletes was frequently mentioned, for example, in 1852 the Windsor and Eton Express wrote, “The games were perhaps poor enough in themselves, the feats of strength having frequently been excelled at less pretentious meetings”, and in the Aberdeen Evening Express in 1881, “The hurdle race was disappointing, as there were only five competitors, two of whom quickly gave up before the river was reached.” And again in1886, “No big-name heavy athletes, as in the previous year.”  In truth it was often not worth their time for top athletes to penetrate as far as Braemar, with its restrictions, at a busy time of the year for other, more lucrative, Highland games.

Lack of interest in the event by the local population and poor organisation were similarly frequent charges.  The Manchester Courier in 1874, “… but for the presence of royalty it would have been a very tame affair.  When the games commenced only a few vehicles had taken up positions round the ring while in former years by that time there was a complete circle.  The number of spectators was also very limited.”  And the Huntly Express in the same year, “Up till noon, not a drum was heard, which was very unlike previous years on similar occasions.  The local patrons who are wont to take a lively interest in the affair were viewed like strangers among the spectators, with the exception of a few of Lord Fife’s men who marched into the park.  The clans in general assembled like straggling sheep without a shepherd.”  The Huntly Express continued, “… an event once popular in the history of Scotland; but its popularity on this occasion lay entirely in the success of its failure.”  Aberdeen Journal, 1874, “and it was not till the royal carriage came in sight that a couple of dusty couches were brought out of the old castle and placed upon the slope for Her Majesty to sit upon.”  By the mid-1880s, it seemed doubtful if the event could continue.

But by far the biggest bone of contention for the press was the negative view of native Highlanders, the disdain for allegedly traditional culture and the promotion of Highlandism by non-Highlanders, especially the English.  The Scotsman, a radical newspaper based in Edinburgh, home of the Enlightenment, held particularly trenchant views, as the following quotations from 1852 and 1853 make clear.  “The country’s practical experience of the Highlanders – that experience of which the results come home to us in destitution collections and emigration funds – is that they are idle, deficient in self-reliance, fond of all amusements and addicted to hollow display.  We know that they will sacrifice any duty for a day’s amusement, that while listless in the serious business of life  they will concentrate great energies in sport and dissipation , that they are addicted to wearing gaudy decorations when they have not sufficient clothing for comfort and decency and that the inability to use any other but the Gaelic tongue keeps them in ignorance and fosters all those defects that make them so heavy a burden to the rest of the community.  Yet with these propensities looking them in the face and demanding correction, the friends of the Highlander laboriously and expensively urge him to the amusements he is naturally too much addicted to, encourage him to the dissipation which is his curse, give him prizes for expensive and useless clothing and excite him in the employment of the language which keeps him from participating in the energetic process of the country at large.”  And, “Scotsman asks if it is sensible for Lowlanders and Londoners to act the parts as chieftains and clansmen.  Clan Duff and Clan Forbes are Lowlands families that have of late begun to aspire after some of the vanishing honours of savagery.  Many of the Forbeses are not Highlanders and not even Scotchmen.”  The Elgin Courier, 1859.  “Those of our readers who have witnessed a competition for national sports once or twice will have no particular desire to see the sight again.  It is one of the silliest, most stupid and most wearisome spectacles that can be conceived.”  Truth, another radical newspaper, made fun of the discomfort shown by some members of the royal family with having to wear Highland attire.  “I do not wonder that Prince Henry was glad to get back to Balmoral for he looked miserably uncomfortable and embarrassed in his fantastical Highland dress of gaudy Stuart tartan and reminded one of the proverbial hog in armour.  It was moreover what Highlanders call a “fresh” afternoon and as the air became keen the unfortunate young man’s teeth seemed to chatter with cold for, the kilt is rather a trying garment under such conditions.”  Of course, in the intervening decades, between then and now and despite press scorn, Highlandism has emerged totally triumphant and it is very difficult to imagine any Scottish newspaper currently espousing such views.

Despite her own patchy attendance at the Braemar Gathering, in 1874 when the Queen discovered that Colonel Farquharson, Lord Fife and Lord MacDuff would not be attending that year’s event, she was less than pleased and upbraided them by letter for a lack of support for this demonstration of national culture, which she felt was in danger of being displaced by “low sports” such as pigeon shooting, gambling and even polo!  Colonel Farquharson and Lord MacDuff then changed their minds, but the arrangements on the day were underwhelming, no march of the clans taking place, though enough Highlanders were cobbled together to form a guard of honour for the monarch.  To cap it all, heavy rain caused a suspension of the events.  This was one of the years which received heavy press criticism.  The monarch’s intervention ensured that the following year there was a big turnout of marching Highlanders.  The Queen attended in both 1874 and 1875 but the following year, 1876, she again lapsed.  She attended in 1878 but then followed seven barren years devoid of Her Majesty’s presence.  In the middle of this period, in 1883, John Brown died and this loss, like the loss of Prince Albert, had a devastating effect on the Queen’s mood. There was now almost constant sniping from the press about the Queen’s failure to turn up, though others, including the Prince of Wales substituted for her.  Reporting on the1884 Gathering, the Dundee Advertiser remarked acidly that the gentlemen in the royal party “were more inclined to talk than to look” – clearly, they were not paying attention.  In truth, the future of the Braemar Gathering was in peril from a lack of commitment by the traditional sponsors, the Queen’s habitual absence and a general deficit of enthusiasm for the event.

The 1887 Braemar Gathering at Balmoral

The following year, 1887, it appeared that the decision as to where to mount the Gathering was taken rather late.  At the end of June, it was announced that Lieutenant Colonel Farquharson had placed Braemar Castle at the disposal of the Royal Braemar Highland Society, so perhaps the assumption was being made that the event would, as usual, be taking place there.  However, within a few days the president of the Society, Angus Macintosh, had received a letter from General Henry Ponsonby, Keeper of the Privy Purse and Queen Victoria’s Private Secretary, commanding the attendance of the Society to celebrate their annual Gathering at Balmoral that season.  The Society did the gracious thing and accepted the Royal Command.  It could hardly do anything else, but was probably delighted to receive the directive. This was a very special year in Queen Victoria’s reign, being the 50^th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

    

It is unclear from where this idea came, though it is likely to have involved Ponsonby himself, or why action was not taken earlier in order to leave more time for preparation. The event had never previously been to this venue, though a facsimile of the Gathering had been mounted there in 1859, when the BAAS visited Aberdeen.  For the Queen’s advisers, it was an excellent opportunity to celebrate, and draw attention to, this special occasion in her life - provided it was organised successfully.  Certainly, it was a way to ensure the Queen’s engagement in and presence at the Gathering.  Coincidentally, it was also a route to stopping the rot which had sapped the enthusiasm of the main sponsors for this celebration of all things Highland over the previous decade.

The date chosen for the Gathering was Thursday 1 September.  On 11 August a deputation from the Royal Braemar Highland Society met with Dr Alexander Profeit, the Royal Commissioner at Balmoral, to choose the ground where the meeting would be held.  A grass park on the haugh land (flat agricultural land next to the river) between the Dee and the South Deeside road, near the J E Boehm statue of Prince Albert, was selected.  The necessary access and building works were delegated to James Anderson, the Balmoral Clerk of Works, assisted by William Brown, the brother of John Brown, then living in John Brown’s old Balmoral house (Bhaile-na-Choile).  William was representing the management committee of the Society.  Meanwhile a programme of events was drawn up and donations sought, the appeal for funds being very successful.  John Michie later referred to the venue as “Waterside Park”.

Prince Albert statue by JE Boehm

About 11.30am on the day of the Gathering the Queen took a carriage along the road by the site, obviously curious to see its state of preparation.  She recorded the scene in her Journals.  “Breakfasted all 6 in the Cottage, — Driving afterwards a little with the girls to Abergeldie & back, & passed close to where the Gathering is to be held, viz: on the field close to the river, extending from one bridge to the other. Many people assembled already. The refreshment Tent, & booths, being put up. It looked very gay.”  Perhaps because the monarch was not expected to be out at that time, many of the visitors did not notice it was her carriage weaving through the crowds.  This was the first year that the Balmoral Highlanders, 40 in number and bedecked in Royal Stuart tartan, had paraded.  They were led by Pipe Major Ross and his assistant, Campbell, playing vigorously.  It seems likely that the Gathering’s staging at Balmoral had provided the impetus for the proper establishment of the Queen’s own troop of Highlanders.  The name was fanciful, for they had no claim to constitute a clan.  At 12.00 noon the Balmoral Highlanders marched out of the Castle grounds and across the Brunel bridge to greet the 80 Duff and 100 Farquharson Highlanders, who had arrived on the north bank of the river, with an exchange of cheers.  The Queen went down to the lodge to watch.  “It was a very pretty sight seeing them marching along.”  At 1.00 pm, the massed ranks of the Highlanders then proceeded to the ground and were entertained to lunch.

Brunel bridge (1857), Crathie

During the morning the visitors started to stream onto the site and a diverse array of vehicles was drawn up around the arena, three deep in places.  In their reports of the event, the newspapers estimated the crowd at 3,000 – 4,000 persons, though Her Majesty, perhaps keen to bolster the event’s success in her mind, was happy to record a higher figure, “There was an immense crowd, between 8 & 9000, they say.”  There is little doubt that, whatever the true number, this was the largest crowd thus far attracted to the event.

The competition arena, surrounded by a stout fence with flags on tall poles at intervals, was on flat land but, at its western end, the park contours rose to form a natural terrace.  Here a pavilion had been constructed for the use of the royal party, from which they would have a good view over the site.  The monarch would later record, “We could see everything very well, as we were quite close.” The pavilion, or dais, extended to about 30 ft by 30 ft and was covered by an awning draped in Madras muslin, held aloft by crimson pillars projecting above the structure as flagpoles, which bore the crosses of St Andrew and St George.  The front of the structure was decorated with foliage in pots, brought over from the Castle gardens.  To the rear were two “retiring rooms”, one for the monarch and one for the other ladies.  

  

The competitions were due to start at 1.00 pm but the programme had slipped, and it was fully an hour later before they got underweigh.  Rain had started falling at about noon and was still significant at 3.00pm when the royal party approached the competition ground, though very soon the sun emerged to bathe the scene in light for the rest of the afternoon.  The announcement of the Queen’s imminent arrival generated a frisson of excitement in the crowd, whose attention span was already exhausted by the tedious pace of the competitions.  The Highlanders formed into two rows, between which the royal carriages could drive, and the enthusiastic reception delighted the monarch.  “The people cheered very much & the pipes played.”

Two carriages transporting the royal party were drawn by four grey horses and preceded by crimson-clad outriders.  In the leading vehicle was the Queen with her daughter, Princess Beatrice and grandson, Prince Albert Victor of Wales.  Riding the rumble seat of the first carriage were Francie Clark and Hugh Brown, respectively the cousin and younger brother of the late John Brown, both in royal service, which emphasised the significant position still held by the Brown family in the Queen’s favours.  In the second carriage were Prince Henry of Battenberg, the husband of Princess Beatrice, the Princesses Irene and Alix of Hesse, granddaughters of the monarch, the latter later to die tragically at the hands of the Bolsheviks.  The carriages entered at the east end of the site and drove to the royal accommodation at the opposite extremity.  Lord Bridport had travelled ahead to receive the Queen and her companions as they alighted, to show them to their places under the canopy.

The two other major sponsors of the Gathering, Colonel Farquharson and Lord Fife (Alexander William George Duff, 6^th Earl of Fife) also attended with large parties of guests, though the latter committed a protocol blunder by arriving an hour after the Queen.  Both Farquharson and Fife, together with various members of their entourages were presented to the monarch, so Fife had quickly been forgiven for his faux pas.  Two years later the Earl would marry Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of Prince Albert Edward of Wales and thus the Queen’s granddaughter.  The Queen held animated conversations with several of those presented.  She seemed to be in excellent form and even clapped some of the Highland dancers but after about two hours she clearly felt she had done her duty and the royal entourage departed, much as they had arrived, driving between the ranks of the Highlanders to the cheering of the crowd on the way back to the Castle.  The crowd then streamed away, even though the athletic competitions had not been completed, leaving the remaining competitors as almost the only people on the ground. 

In the evening the Highlanders were entertained to dinner in the Iron Ballroom, followed by a dance held in a large tent. (The Iron Ballroom was, and is, a prefabricated building, constructed with corrugated iron and hung with typically Victorian scalloped barge boards.  It is now the oldest surviving (1851) such building in Scotland.)   The Queen did not attend these evening events, dining separately in the Castle, though “Eddy” (Prince Albert Victor of Wales) and “Liko” (Prince Henry of Battenberg) did attend the ball.

Iron Ballroom (1851), Balmoral

One of the innovations at the 1887 Gathering at Balmoral, which has left a delightful legacy, was due to Mr James Hay, proprietor of the Royal Athenaeum Hotel, Aberdeen, who was responsible both for the catering tent on the show ground and the evening dinner.  He had hand-painted menus prepared which were decorated with scenes of Highlanders putting the stone, tossing the caber and dancing the Ghillie Callum (sword dance), the Fife, Farquharson and Stuart clan tartans being accurately reproduced. 

Many newspapers afterwards gave extensive accounts of the names of socially significant attendees and of the attire of the royal party, for example the London Evening Standard reported that the Queen “wore a dress of black silk with black bonnet and grey feather.  The Princess Beatrice was also dressed in black, but she wore a light bonnet with a pink flower and feather in it.  The Princesses Irene and Alix were dressed in grey with hats of the same colour and black feathers.  Prince Albert Victor and Prince Henry of Battenberg appeared in Highland costume, their kilts of the Royal Stuart tartan.”  This paper and others, however, gave no account of the competitions, or of the prize-winners.  It was quite clear that for much of the print media the athletics, dancing and piping competitions and their competitors were not worthy of notice.

The report on the Braemar Gathering in the Dundee Courier was in marked contrast to the London Evening Standard.  Although it contained an extensive list of visitors to the event, it also gave a good account of the competitions and the athletes but was markedly deficient in royal sycophancy.  However, the report of the competitive side of the Gathering made embarrassingly clear that, as an athletics championship it was insignificant, even second-rate.  There were few open events and no athletes who were recognisable much beyond the confines of Deeside.  Some events had attracted very few competitors.  By this date, Donald Dinnie, James Fleming and the like, giants in the pantheon Highland competitors, had departed for pastures new ayont Scotland.  The Aberdeen Journal, after moaning about the entertainment being dull, could only amuse its readers by remarking upon the “sturdy limbs of the competitors” and attributing the assembled musculature to “the dietetic properties of the oatmeal and porridge which are said to be the favourite dishes of these mountainous regions”.

Queen Victoria was evidently pleased with the way the occasion had played out.  “The afternoon was beautiful. We could see everything very well, as we were quite close. Sat there till ½ p. 5 & enjoyed it very much. Numbers of people came up to pay their respects, & several remained in my open tent … Went back to the Cottage for tea, leaving the ground amidst loud cheers. — Later, drove with the girls, along the lower road to Abergeldie, to see the people going away.”  Old habits die hard!  The success of the 1887 Gathering renewed the Queen’s interest in the event.  In the remaining 13 years of her reign, this Highland festival was held on nine occasions and the Queen, despite her advancing years (she was 71 in 1890), attended six of them.  On three further occasions, the event was located at Balmoral.  The revival of the Braemar Gathering, which had been catalysed by the 1887 iteration, continued.  However, the success of the Gathering in that year was entirely due to its location at Balmoral and the leverage that that venue exercised over upper-class English tourists, local landed proprietors and their guests, as well as the hoi polloi.  But the impact of the competitions on boosting attendance, it has to be concluded, was insignificant.

Alexander Haldane Farquharson and the Braemar Gathering

Lieutenant-Colonel James Ross Farquharson, the Laird of Invercauld, who was also known by the sobriquet “Piccadilly Jim”, died in London on 17 March 1888, aged 54.  Consequently, the Braemar Gathering for that year was cancelled as a mark of respect for one of the event’s main sponsors.  His body was transported by train back to Aberdeenshire and he was buried in the family vault in Braemar churchyard.  James Ross Farquharson had one son, Alexander Haldane Farquharson, (AHF) born in 1867, the heir to the Invercauld estates.  AHF was first educated at Eton College and then entered Christ Church, Oxford University in 1885.  He was in his father’s party at the Gathering in 1887 held at Balmoral and was presented, along with his sisters, to Queen Victoria, who described him as “a nice-looking young man”.  The heir apparent reached the age of majority on 12 March 1888, just four days before his father’s premature demise.  He returned to Invercauld after his graduation somewhat inexperienced in life, but not lacking a belief, perhaps misplaced, in his own capabilities.

Farquharson mausoleum, Braemar


James Ross Farquharson

In 1889 the Braemar Gathering was held on the lawn in front of Old Mar Lodge on the Fifes’ estate.  Strictly speaking, this was the first time that the event had been to this venue about five miles west of Braemar, though in 1863 after the true Gathering was cancelled due to the death of the grandfather of AHF, a substitute event was organised there.  On this occasion it is likely that the placing of the event was due to more royal manoeuvring (the Scotsman said “by special request”) in order to celebrate the marriage, in July 1889, of the Earl of Fife to Princess Louise, the Princess Royal, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.  Immediately after the wedding the Queen had elevated Fife to a dukedom, the first Duke of Fife.

Duke and Duchess of Fife

The Highland event was held on 5 September, when 80 Duff Highlanders marched from Mar Lodge (also known as Corriemulzie Cottage) to the Victoria bridge over the Dee opposite the venue, to await the arrival of 30 Balmoral Highlanders who travelled in brakes from Balmoral.  “Owing to some misunderstanding”, said the Aberdeen Journal, there was no participation by the Farquharson men.  Alexander Haldane Farquharson may have been the source of the misunderstanding, but he was newly down from Oxford and newly in charge of the Invercauld estate.  Perhaps he had other things on his mind?  AHF does appear to have been present at the banquet which followed the Gathering.

The following year, 1890, the event returned to Balmoral (see below).  AHF did manage to send a contingent of Farquharson Highlanders that year but the Queen cannot have been pleased with their appearance.  She noted in her Journals, “The Forbes men had already arrived, looking splendid, with Gen: Sir J. Forbes, looking so handsome in his kilt & bonnet, his 2 sons, & young Sir Charles Forbes at their head. The men were carrying halberds. We waited a little while, & then the Duff men appeared, 80 in number, led by Capt: M^c Donald, & lastly the Farquharson men, without any arms or pipers, & led by no gentleman. The Fife men had many pipers.”  AHF still had not got his act together, perhaps because in this year he had become involved in a long and bitter dispute over access to a path on Farquharson land, from Castleton (the easterly half of Braemar) to the Lion’s Face Rock.  (see “Benjamin John Ottewell (1847 – 1937) watercolourist - Queen Victoria and Upper Deeside” on this blogsite).

Alexander Haldane Farquharson

Eighteen ninety-one saw the Braemar Gathering return to the  Farquharson estate for the first time since 1886, not at Braemar Castle, the usual Farquharson site on offer, but to a park near Cluny Cottage on the Invergelder estate and not with Alexander Haldane Farquharson as host.  That role was taken by Sir Algernon Borthwick, who was leasing the property at the time, though Gordon Foggo, the Farquharson factor was responsible for the management of the event.  On the day, the performance of the Farquharson contingent was again chaotic.  John Michie noted in his diary, “The Balmoral Highlanders assembled at the Castle at 9 am where breakfast was served to them.  Dr Profeit who was in command drew them up at the front door.  Campbell the piper with his new assistant (Campbell his nephew) on the right & myself in the centre, one pace forward, bearing the Royal Standard as usual.  We marched to the Garden Cottage where the Queen inspected us & the princess Beatrice took a photograph, mounted carriage and proceeded for the scene of the Games.  Got down at the Bridge of Dee & marched to the gate of the Clunie park where the Duff Highlanders waited us & cheered which we returned.  The Farquharson men were scattered over the whole place.”  The Aberdeen Free Press politely dodged this shambles by simply failing to mention the presence of the Farquharson Highlanders.

There was no Gathering in 1892 due to the death of the Duke of Clarence.  However, the Lonach Society invited the Duff Highlanders to march over the hills to the Lonach Gathering on Donside and for the Balmoral Highlanders to march with them.  The Queen agreed to this proposal and about 30 Balmoral Highlanders plus pipers undertook the march, together with about 30 Deeside Volunteers and 30 - 40 Duff Highlanders.  It is not clear if the Farquharson Highlanders, who had also been invited, joined the party.  The following year the occasion returned to its old venue in front of Braemar Castle, with AHF as the host.  Again, there was dissatisfaction with the performance of the Laird of Invercauld.  John Michie gave an account of the stooshie in his diary. “The lately married Laird of Invercauld was present and his guests, but he did not make the Mar & Balmoral men his guests, therefore there were expressions of dissatisfaction among the ranks, and there was a general coldness evident as compared with the turn out when the Gathering was held at Mar Lodge and at Balmoral where they, games, have been twice.”  AHF gave lunch to the Farquharson men along with the Ballater and Crathie Volunteers, but the Duff and Balmoral men had to wait until the evening before they were fed.  It must have been a long and miserable day for them.  No wonder they were “dissatisfied”!

The 1894 Gathering was also held in front of Braemar Castle at the invitation of AHF and, at least in this year, the Farquharson Highlanders were under quasi-military control and properly drawn up.  But the elements were against the Laird of Invercauld.  It rained heavily overnight and at intervals on the morning of the games and, though the afternoon was dry, it was rather cold.  Queen Victoria was present but only stood the conditions for an hour before returning to Balmoral.  There was a similar iteration the following year when the weather was miserable, the crowd small and the Queen failed to attend.  In 1896 the Gathering was cancelled due to the death of Prince Henry of Battenberg, husband of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter.

In mid-July 1897, the committee of the Royal Braemar Highland Society were still unable to fix a venue for the event.  They had written to AHF asking him to nominate a site but, at that time, he had failed to reply to the secretary’s letter.  Fortunately, he had responded by the end of the month and Cluny Park was fixed for the second time in the history of the event.  There was little possibility of the Queen attending on the nominated day, 2 September, as she would only arrive at Balmoral the previous afternoon.  During this year Alexander Haldane Farquharson had shown commendable judgement.  It was another Jubilee year for the monarch, 60 years since her accession to the throne and her arrival on Deeside called for some pomp and celebration.  On leaving the royal train at Ballater there were two guards of honour drawn up from the 1^st Battalion Scots Guards and the 5^th Volunteer Battalion Gordon Highlanders, together with a reception party of Sir John Clark and Sir Alan and Lady McKenzie.  The Queen and her party then took their coaches for the short drive to Balmoral.  Victoria recorded in her diary what happened on reaching the Brunel bridge across the Dee at Balmoral.  “Before crossing the Bridge my carriage was met by M^r Farquharson at the head of his men, with their Pipers, who followed my carriage, which went at a footspace.”  The Farquharson men then crossed the bridge behind the Queen’s carriage until it reached a triumphal arch at the entrance lodge.  Sir Fleetwood Edwards, the new Keeper of the Privy Purse was in the welcoming party at the Castle door and presented the Laird of Invercauld to Her Majesty.   At last the new Laird of Invercauld had got his act together!

The 1890 Braemar Gathering and the role of John Michie

     

John Michie was appointed Head Forester on the Royal Deeside estates in 1880.  No reference has been found to his role at the 1887 Gathering held at Balmoral but he is likely to have sourced and prepared timber for the various structures on the meeting ground.  The following Gathering was at Mar Lodge in 1889 and this was the second occasion when the Balmoral Highlanders made an appearance, properly drilled and commanded, alongside the Duff Highlanders.  Dr Profeit, the Commissioner, was in charge and John Michie was given the role of carrying the new Royal standard, which placed him at the head of the Balmoral men, marching one pace in front of the pipers.  Michie retained this role throughout the remaining years of Queen Victoria’s reign.

The next occasion on which the Gathering came to Balmoral was 1890.  Again, the Queen commanded that Balmoral would be the venue, though the reasoning behind the Royal command for this particular year is unknown.  It does not seem to have been a particular anniversary of a significant event.  John Michie was discussing preparations with Dr Profeit two weeks before the “Council” of the Royal Braemar Highland Society formally agreed in the middle of July that the date would be Thursday 4 September at the Queen’s residence.  Michie and Profeit clearly had no concerns that the Royal command would go unheeded.  The Balmoral Head Forester described his role at the coming event.  “I am engaged preparing for the erection of various buildings for the Braemar Gathering such as Queen's pavilion, ring, seats, &c.  Mr Anderson (Balmoral Clerk of Works) goes to Aberdeen tomorrow to see Alan's people about drapery &c.”  The design of the pavilion was jointly by John Michie and James Anderson and Michie included a sketch of the structure in his diary for 4 September 1890, the day of the Gathering.  He was unhappy with the drapery by James Allan & Sons of Aberdeen, which he found objectionable in colour and style and took it upon himself to mute the effect “by the use of evergreens &c colours of cloth &c.  Running plain along both sides and up to summit of gable-yellow which was ultimately subdued by a triple row of laurel leaves running along the lower edge and a braid of purple heather bloom above.  The ground of gable was scarlet on which rested the Imperial Crown.  All the hangings being of terracotta drawn up into knots at rather irregular intervals.  The centre portion of the building projected bay-like some 2½ feet from the general line of front.  The railing which passed round edge of dais was covered with a thin cloth striped terracotta and which the front part under the dais edge was filled up with spruce branches while behind the whole fabric was screened by spruce fir trees being planted temporarily an open uncanopied space stretched along the front and round the edge of B while the end  was closely boarded up and covered with spruce &c.  The open space would be about 6 ft. wide being somewhat more under the gable.  There was a display of the various tartans of the Highlanders present in front of the centre advanced portion immediately behind was the Queen's portion.”  The Queen seems to have been happy with the finished structure, “Our Pavilion was very prettily arranged & we all sat there looking on.”

1890 Balmoral pavilion, John Michie diary

John Michie had become a member of the Society by 1890.  It may have been earlier, but his diaries are missing for the relevant years.  The annual subscription was 6/3d.  The following year he paid his subscription in a similar way, taking William Brown with him to the meeting of the Royal Braemar Highland Society.  Michie also explained the structure of the annual payment.  “Quarterly payments of 1/6 is the thing really, but these are seldom made at the time and a fine of -/1d for each omission is made - thus the sub. for the year when made at one meeting it amounts to 6/3 per member, which I paid today.”

There must have been some discussion about the possibility of the Gathering returning to Balmoral in 1891.  In July of that year John Michie reported in his diary, “To the Castle and find that it is likely the Braemar Gathering may take place at Balmoral as last year, which means some extra work in preparing.  This matter will cost the Queen probably between £150 & £200 if it takes place there.”  Although the Gathering actually went to Clunie Park, this information is useful in giving an idea of the additional direct costs of hosting the event.  John Michie was also unhappy to learn that Gordon Foggo, the Invercauld factor, would be in charge of the arrangements.  His misgivings were well-placed (see above)! 

For John Michie, a firm supporter of the monarch, much of what he was doing on her behalf, both through the Society and on the ground at Balmoral, appears to have been a matter of duty.  He was not a great enthusiast for the Gathering as an event and in one of his rare unguarded moments expressed his opinion about the beliefs of the monarch and her servants relating to this festival.  “All workmen get a holiday tomorrow on account of the Braemar Gathering.  To state my opinion of donning the kilt dress belonging really to the Queen, collecting at the Castle, marching in a kind of order about the place with Her Majesty's pipers playing in front, then she inspects these clansmen, they are driven to the Gathering to meet others of Mar & Invercauld.  The way by which her Majesty enters the field to her pavilion is lined by these clansmen they are dined, and the function is ended except that later on some get affected by strong drink.  Now there seems to me to be a mutual misunderstanding.  The Queen thinks she is giving us all a treat by this day's outing, & we believe we are pleasing the Queen by donning that Stuart tartan & strutting about.  My private feeling is that both are mistaken.”

John Michie was not himself a Highland athlete, though his brother Tom was, and appeared and won prizes over several years at the Braemar Gathering.  However, Tom Michie, while a capable heavy athlete, did not have national standing.  Despite this lack of status, as John Michie recorded, “My brother Tom and A Neilson from Blairgowrie were present as competitors and were either first or second in the heavy competitions which either had not won within the last 3 years.”  Commenting on the 1894 event, which was held in front of Braemar Castle, John Michie acknowledged the modest nature of the competition.  “The Braemar Gathering and a very slowly conducted affair it was.  Very few outside competitors came forward.  The fact that the situation is distant from any centre, and that athletes who compete must be members of the society while two prizes only are given in many cases prevent a number of first-class men coming.”  The Braemar Gathering simply could not attract the top performers at this time and the source of its success lay elsewhere.

In 1894 John Michie was appointed as a judge at the Braemar Gathering and continued in this role for many years, possibly until the start of WW1 and the suspension of the Gathering for the duration of the conflict.  By 1895 he had also been appointed to the Council of the Society too. (John Michie sometimes refers to the “Council” and at other times to the “Committee”, but it is not clear if they are one and the same body.)    He was not impressed by the conduct of business.  After the quarterly meeting held in April 1895 he commented, “The business was got through in truly antiquated Highland fashion.”  He was also aware of public dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Gathering.  “The public complain of slowness of the competitions & I think they have cause.” But he seemed unable to influence his fellow Council members. The Aberdeen Journal commented on the longevity of Macintosh the president of the Society.  “There near the doorway (to Old Mar Castle) stands old Angus Macintosh the veteran president of the Braemar Royal Highland Society, whose striking features have, it might almost be said, immortalised by Gustave Dore for some 20 years ago the celebrated artist took a pencil sketch of the hale old man and the picture is one of Angus’ most treasured possessions.”  In 1895 Macintosh was in his 86^th year and had been in post since 1882, when he assumed the presidency from John Lamont who had been president since 1843!  Old Angus Macintosh was neither malleable nor flexible and the Gathering, or at least the conduct of the competitions, continued much as before under his venerable leadership.

    

The 1898 Braemar Gathering at Balmoral

Significance was given to this year by it being the 50^th anniversary since the Queen first landed at Aberdeen, prior to entering upon her new estate at Balmoral.  Like 1887, it called for celebration in a variety of ways, one obvious action being again to command the Royal Braemar Highland Society to bring the Gathering to Balmoral.  News that this was to happen first leaked out at the end of June of that year and the date chosen for the event was 8 September.  Of course, the year 1887, when the Gathering was held at Balmoral for the first time, had been very successful in terms of drawing in the crowds and 1898 was likely to follow the same pattern.  The location, the almost certain presence of the Queen, with other members of the Royal family and the likely attendance of large numbers of bekilted Highlanders would be a magnetic draw.  The press was generally enthusiastic about the prospect of a return to the Queen’s Deeside home, though “Truth”, in characteristic style, managed to find a discordant note to play.  Commenting on crowd behaviour twelve years ago, “there was an overwhelming crowd of “trippers” from Aberdeen and other places, and after the games there was a great deal of drinking and many rowdy scenes, the function degenerating into an orgy of the most pandemoniacal description.”  While there had been much alcohol consumption, this statement was surely a wildly exaggerated prediction for the event’s outcome.  Other press organs, alternatively, could not resist verbal genuflection.  The Aberdeen Journal – “The great Braemar Gathering always so popular with Royalty” and, “For half a century Her Majesty, when opportunity offered, has taken advantage of her visits to her Highland home to be present at the annual gathering.”  The Yorkshire Evening Express – “Her Majesty has allowed the Braemar Gathering to take place at Balmoral tomorrow.”  These remarks, too, were hardly accurate.

Dr Alexander Profeit, Her Majesty’s Commissioner on Deeside had died in office in January 1897 and been replaced by Mr James Forbes.  The new commissioner and John Michie quickly struck up a good working relationship and the programme for 1887, which Michie had been heavily involved in implementing, was largely repeated in 1898.  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” might have been their maxim, though that much-repeated phrase would not be spoken until 1977.

Although John Michie’s diary for 1898 is not available, it seems likely that he was largely responsible for the structural works on the meeting ground.  The Royal pavilion was closely similar to the design previously employed and it was again furnished and upholstered by Messrs James Allan and Sons of Aberdeen.  Tented accommodation for other purposes on the site was provided by Messrs Shirras Laing and Co, including a large marquee for the clansmen’s refreshments.

Braemar Gathering pavilion (1898) at Balmoral

Attendance was estimated at 14,000 – 15,000 and was probably limited by the availability of transport from Aberdeen, but especially from Ballater, where all available horse transport was pressed into use.  The crowd described by the Aberdeen Journal as “larger and more fashionable than even in its history”.  Many people travelled by bicycle, including a substantial number peddling all the way from Aberdeen.  The weather had been dry and the roads were exceptionally dusty, covering vehicles, animals and travellers in a thick grey layer.  Many people stopped at the Coil-a-Criech Inn, between Ballater and the destination to slake their thirst.  Apparently, some never completed the journey, such was the allure of the hostelry after the heat and dust on the roads.

There was a grand turn-out of Highlanders, headed by the Balmoral men, whose number was not stated but usually extended to about 35 servants.  They were commanded by James Forbes, with John Michie as standard-bearer and James Campbell, the Queen’s piper followed by Colin Cameron, piper to the Duke of Fife. The Balmoral Highlanders were carrying Lochaber axes and sporting the oak leaf and thistle badge in their bonnets.  At 12.00 noon they were drawn up in a semi-circle opposite the entrance to the Balmoral estate.  Then lining the road towards the bridge were 40 Duff Highlanders bearing pikes and with a sprig of holly aloft.  They were led by six pipers.  Next in line were the Farquharson men, along with the Volunteers and all carrying swords.  Finally, present for the first time in eight years were the Forbes men carrying halberds, who had marched from Donside.  They displayed a sprig of broom in their bonnets.  The Athole Highlanders had thought of attending, but the distance from Blair Atholl to Balmoral was considered too great to undertake on foot. The massed Highlanders marched to the ground, were fed, and prepared to form a guard of honour at 3.00 pm for the arrival of the Queen and Royal party, much as in 1887  They were kept hanging about and one of the Duff Highlanders fainted in the heat before Her Majesty arrived.

While waiting for the arrival of the monarch, the crowd were entertained by the 1^st Aberdeen Volunteer Artillery band.  They were commanded to attend so near to the event that they had no time for practice and could not acquire transport.  The day was saved by James Forbes who arranged carriages for them.  At least the bandsmen were rewarded afterwards with a telegram from the Queen to their commander, Colonel Ogston, thanking them for their performance.

Queen Victoria and party arrived at 3.40pm to rapturous cheering from the multitude as she took her place in the pavilion.  Also in the Royal party were Princess Henry of Battenberg (Queen’s youngest daughter), Princess Aribert of Anhalt (granddaughter of Queen Victoria), Prince and Princess Leiningen (Queen Victoria’s mother was a Leiningen), Duke of Albany, Princess Alice of Albany (granddaughter of Queen Victoria) and the children of Princess Henry of Battenberg.  Several senior members of the Royal Household were also present, including the Earl of Stafford, Lt Col Davidson (equerries), Dowager Lady Churchill (in attendance on Her Majesty), the Honourable Harriet Phipps, the Honourable Sylvia Edwards, the Right Honourable Sir Fleetwood Edwards (Keeper of the Privy Purse) and Sir James Reid (Royal Physician).  There were also two Indian servants hovering, dressed in “highly picturesque attire”.  The Queen remained for her customary two hours and in this time many presentations were made to her, so at least the social function of the Gathering had been effectively discharged.  On this occasion, all the competitions had been completed before the Royal departure, not that many would have noticed, since the attention of the crowd was on the spectacle of the Highlanders lining up to bid farewell to the monarch and her party.

One obvious difference from the 1887 event was the possession of cameras by several people in the crowd and by some members of the Royal party.  Messrs Walker of Aberdeen also cinematographed the occasion.  Apparently, there had been an infiltration of pickpockets, but the 40 police officers on duty managed to keep them under control.  One serious accident marred the occasion, when a young woman was knocked down at the gate on departure and suffered a compound fracture of the leg, when a carriage wheel rolled over her.  One characteristic of the Gathering had not changed.  As the Aberdeen Journal pointed out, “There was nothing sensational in the sports and they formed perhaps the least interesting part.”

The 1899 Braemar Gathering at Balmoral 

  

In the ultimate year of the century, Queen Victoria again commanded that the Braemar Gathering should be held at Balmoral, though there was no special anniversary to give a justification for doing so, unlike 1887 and 1898.  Perhaps the Queen’s renewed interest in the event, which had started a dozen years previously, simply carried over?  She seemed to like the event being staged on her property, where her own people would control the organisation, where there would be no tedious travel to and from the chosen location, where there would be sure to be a large attendance and she would be smothered in adulation from her landed neighbours and their august house party guests and from other visitors, both high and low.  The message was released early that the Queen would be very likely to attend along with all members of the Royal family present at Balmoral and, additionally, the Duke and Duchess of Fife from Mar Lodge.

The staging of the 1899 iteration could be simply described as more of the same.  Same venue, same Highlander representatives arriving, guarding and leaving, same band playing.  A new and even more decorated pavilion had been designed and erected, elaborating on what had gone before.  It was in the Scottish Baronial style, with a battlemented roof and turrets rising from the four corners.  The Royal and Scottish standards flew above the structure, whose front and sides were covered with juniper.  The capitals of the pillars were embossed with lines of blooming heather and the arches were draped with Royal Stuart tartan.  A large shield bearing the Royal Arms and above that a crown set in roses, thistles and shamrock embellished the front, with the words “Welcome back again!” picked out in flowers.  The inside of the structure was, as usual, covered with exotic drapes, provided by James Allan and Company.

The weather was mostly good, which brought in a large crowd, estimated at 11,000 – 12,000, perhaps 2,000 down on the previous year but still a large crowd by historical comparison.  As usual, overloaded, horse-drawn vehicles of all kinds, including horse-drawn lorries fitted with garden seats, laboured out of Ballater up the Craigendarroch brae, this time under the vigilant eyes of two officers of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  Again, the games did not form the centre piece of the attraction, though there had been some small changes to the rules.  Events which were previously restricted to Society members were now opened to members of the Lonach Society from Donside too and one heavy athlete of national standing, George Johnson, competed in the open events, where he was inevitably successful.

The monarch and her party left as expected at 6.00 pm.  “There was a tremendous quantity of people & a fine gathering of Highlanders. We sat in a very nicely arranged Pavilion & witnessed the usual games & a great deal of dancing. A number of people, visitors, neighbours &c, passed by, including the Neumanns from Invercauld. Had tea in the Pavilion & left again at 6 …”.  The Queen had enjoyed her day.  It would be her last Braemar Gathering. 

  

The Denoument

The 1900 Gathering was cancelled, in part due to the death of the Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria’s second son, from throat cancer in July of that year.  She had commanded, “No gaieties of any sort”.  But the monarch was also distressed by the Second Boer War.  At the July 1900 annual meeting of the Royal Braemar Highland Society, a message was received from the Queen expressing her wish that no Gathering be held that year on account of the great loss of life in South African.  The Society dutifully complied.   On 22 January 1901 the Queen too cast off her mortal coil.  Inevitably, at a time of great national mourning there was no Braemar Gathering that year either.  Thus ended Queen Victoria’s long association with the Braemar Gathering on a subdued note, perhaps not the way she would have wished it to end, but a visit from the Grim Reaper is not always signalled in advance.

The Queen and the Braemar Gathering – five phases 

Queen Victoria’s changing attendance at the Braemar Gathering fell into phases, initiated and defined both by her evolving view of the event and by signal occurrences in both her official and her personal life.

On entering upon the newly-acquired Balmoral estate in 1848, the monarch was riding the then current wave of enthusiasm for all things Highland and she embraced Highland culture with enthusiasm.  The Braemar Gathering was already well-established, celebrating the gathering of the clans, the wearing of Highland attire and the admiration of Highland cultural and sporting activities.  Where the cultural norms in the local towns and villages did not conform with the idealised view of the Highlands being promoted by the upper classes, the Queen and Prince Albert commanded changes on their own estates so that their fantasy world became, as far as possible, reality.  The invention of new tartan patterns, the wearing of the kilt as work attire and the teaching of the Gaelic language, were all promoted or even commanded.  Thus, her attendance at the Braemar Gathering was entirely to be expected.

But then reality began to sink in.  The Queen found the Gathering to be rather tedious, especially the athletic events, though she did sometimes enjoy the Highland dancing.  From the start she limited the duration of her attendance essentially to a two-hour stint and she did not ever attend the evening dinner or ball.  Still, in the period 1848 to 1857, inclusive, the Queen was present on all occasions, except two.  She was doing her bit to promote and sustain Highland culture and that was seen as an important duty.

The Queen did not attend the Gathering in1858,1859 or 1861, even though she was in residence at Balmoral.  Further she did not attempt to justify her absence.  Disenchantment was starting to win over duty.

Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, died on 14 December 1861 which cast the Queen into a deep pit of depression and gloom, which continued for several years.  In addition to poor mental health Queen Victoria also suffered from various physical ailments, though there may, on occasions have been a psycho-somatic reason for her maladies, lurking in the background.  It then became normal for the monarch to absent herself from attendance at the Gathering.  In the period 1862 – 1886 the Braemar Gathering was held 21 times, but the monarch attended only four times.  This period of rare attendance also covered the years when the Queen was close to her Highland servant John Brown, when other aspects of her life seemed to be bringing some joy. John Brown’s premature death in 1883 changed nothing, as the Queen still did not make the journey up the Dee valley to celebrate Highland history and culture.  During this period, the Braemar Gathering became lack-lustre.  There was a deficiency of commitment from the other local sponsors and, with the monarch’s attendance being ever uncertain and likely to be cancelled for any excuse, attendance by the public was modest.  The press frequently quipped at the royal absence or even made snide remarks.  Unless something could be changed, the Braemar Gathering looked destined for terminal decline.  

In 1887, the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne, the monarch or, more likely one of her senior advisers, had the bright idea of bringing the Braemar Gathering to Balmoral, as part of the official celebration’s of the Queen’s long reign.  It would involve the monarch in some additional expenditure, a commitment to probable attendance and a substantial amount of additional work for the estate staff.  Whether it was conceived with other aims in mind is not clear but mounting the Gathering at Balmoral was highly successful.  As a celebration of Highland games, it was slow and the athletic performances modest but that is not why the multitude made the journey 50 miles up Deeside.  The draw for the crowds at all levels of society was the grandeur of the Queen’s Highland home, the near-certain attendance of the monarch and her extended entourage, a full turn-out of kilted, weaponised Highlanders with pipes skirling and, on the day, fine weather.  The Gathering was a spectacular success.

 

The Queen, re-invigorated by the cheering crowds at Balmoral, arranged for her grand-daughter Princess Louis and her newly acquired husband, the Duke of Fife, to have their own day in the sun, basking in the adulation of the multitude, when she commanded that the Balmoral Gathering would go to Mar Lodge the following year.  Although Mar Lodge was easily the least convenient venue for the event and despite the confusion which led to the Farquharson men being absent, this edition of the Gathering, too, was successful.  1890 saw the Gathering return to Balmoral and more large crowds and the following year, although back on Farquharson land at Clunie Park, had the benefit of Sir Algernon Borthwick’s expenditure of both money and enthusiasm.  The Braemar Gathering had returned from the brink.

Between 1893 and 1897, the Gathering was held on four occasions, all on Farquharson land.  Queen Victoria suffered a relapse of indifference and only managed to be present once.  But the old magic returned in 1898 and 1899 with the final two Balmoral iterations.  The Queen and her Highland home really were the magic ingredients which guaranteed success.  It is reasonable to suggest that Queen Victoria, although perhaps not aiming to revive the fortunes of the Braemar Gathering and save it from collapse, may well have done just that by hosting the event repeatedly at Balmoral.

Don Fox

20200411

donaldpfox@gmail.com