Yesterday, September 3, the Queen, Prince Philip and Prime Minister Cameron with his wife, Samantha, all attended the Braemar Games at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park, Braemar. The games are an annual fixture on the royal calendar and tend to indicate that the annual royal sojourn at Balmoral is coming to a close.
Queen Elizabeth is Patron of the Games, which have been run by the Braemar Royal Highland Society since 1832; the event, however, has its roots in the time of 12th-century King Malcolm Canmore. Either way, the Braemar Games are a chance for the Queen to relax and watch muscular men toss tree-trunks, throw iron bells and yank each other around on ropes in the tug-o-war, along with slightly more couth, but no less vigorous, activities such as children's sack races and Highland dancing. Annually, photographs emerge that show the Queen joking with her sons or beaming ear-to-ear at the proceedings.
This weekend, it also emerged that Queen Elizabeth gave the Duchess of Cambridge a pair of silver salvers -- serving trays -- once owned by her father, George VI. This has rightfully been seen by royal-watchers as a sign of approval. It's hardly surprising; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge has shown herself demure, deferential and keen to learn. For some she might still be kept a little too firmly under wraps; rumors that the Duchess and Prince William would attend the Braemar Gathering turned out, alas to be just that – rumors.
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