ROYAL HIGHLAND GAMES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27097, 21 July 1953, Page 11

ROYAL HIGHLAND GAMES

Huge Crowd Expected At Braemar CORONATION YEAR PROGRAMME (From a Reuter Correspondent.) BRAEMAR, (Scotland). Visitors from all over the world will boost the 500 population of this quiet little Highland village to about 50,000 when Scotland’s premier athletic event —the Royal Highland Games, takes place here on September 3. Sightseers will jostle through the single street village, situated on the banks of the River Dee, to a grassy bowl 1100 feet above sea level to see brawny Scots displaying their strength. Last year the games attracted 40,000 people. This year the record is expected to be beaten by 10,000 or more. The organisers say that applications for the Coronation year games have been “phenomenal and unprecedented.’’ Many have come from America, Canada and Australia. The little grandstand in the Princess Royal and Duke of York Memorial Park, where the games are held, seats 500. When bookings opened last month, it was filled in four days. Some 4000 ringside seats went quickly while standing room, too, is nearly all taken now. The' form of the games has changed little since they were started nearly 1000 years ago. They consist mainly of pipeband contests, Highland dancing competitions and feats of skill, such as tossing the caber. Other Highland meetings have gone in for side-shows to build up the carnival effect. But Braemar refuses to add anything to the traditional attractions.

One of the main attractions is tossing the caber, a heavy pine log. Braemar has a special one. It is 21 feet long and weighs 2 cwt. It is very seldom tossed—the last time was two years ago—but every Scot who enters this year is determined to have the honour of throwing it in Coronation year.

Around the arena are the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains, rising to about 1500 feet and covered with pines and purple heather. In -summer the granite houses in the village sparkle in the, sun giving the area an alpine look. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, who came from partly-alpine Bavaria, always described Braemar as his “second home.” At one corner of the bowl is a tent which - has been the scene of many moving family reunions. It is reserved for overseas visitors. Many of them are Scots who have been : i “exile” for many years anW may have lost touch with their relatives. The visitors can have their names broadcast over the bowl in the hope that some of their kin are at the games.. Sometimes they are, and it is always a thrilling moment when the parties are reunited.

The highlight of the day is always the arrival at the games of the Royal Family—“ The Royals,” as the locals call them. Their visit is never announced beforehand. But the crowd always seems to know when they leave Balmoral, the Royal home on Dee-side, eight miles from Braemar. to drive down into the village. The hubbub ceases. Then comes the music of massed pipes and drums leading the Royal party into the arena, accompanied by cheers and the click of tourists’ cameras.

The villagers hope that Queen Elizabeth and her sailor-husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, will attend the Coronation games this year. They say that by then their arduous round of Coronation duties will be over, and they will be resting before their Commonwealth tour, which begins on November 23. “Where is there a lovlier place to rest?” the locals ask. They hope, too, that the Queen will bring four-year-old Prince Charles, and two-year-old Princess Anne, with her. The children have not yet been to the Royal Highland Games.