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King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Braemar Gathering of the Scottish Highland Games
Photo: Chris Jackson / Chris Jackson / Getty Images
King Charles III has visited the Highland Games in Braemar, Scotland, for the first time as a British monarch. The 74-year-old appeared at the "Braemar Gathering" near his Balmoral residence in north-east Scotland in a tartan skirt with the pattern created especially for him and named after him.
The Braemar Gathering, which always takes place on the first Saturday in September, is the most famous event of the Highland Games. Since the middle of the 19th century, high royal dignitaries have been regular guests.
In the competitions of the Highland Games, whose patron is King Charles, the disciplines include tree trunk throwing and stone throwing. In addition to Charles, Queen Camilla and Charles' sister Anne and her husband Tim Laurence were also among the visitors to this year's Games.
Charles' late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was also a regular visitor to the Braemar Games. Last year she was absent from the event for health reasons, and a few days later she died at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who spent the weekend with his family at Balmoral Castle at the invitation of the king, was not to be seen at first. The visit to the royal estate in the Highlands is part of a tradition established by Queen Elizabeth II. At the beginning of September 70, for example, the Queen, who has seen a total of 15 heads of government in 2021 years on the throne, invited the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Scotland with his partner Carrie and son Wilfred.
For Sunak, the weekend trip is a last distraction before parliament returns from the summer recess next Monday and everyday political life picks up speed again.
czl/dpa/AFP