King Charles has started his summer holiday in Scotland, spending the first week of August at the Castle and Gardens of Mey in Caithness, the very north of the country. New photographs released today show the monarch wearing a kilt as he honours his beloved grandmother, the Queen Mother.
Planting the King's Rose
During his stay, Charles planted a rose called the King's Rose in the castle's Diamond Jubilee Rose Garden. The rose was cultivated by David Austin Roses in partnership with The King's Foundation and named in his honour. It joins two sycamore trees at the front of the castle that Charles and Queen Camilla planted in 2005, when they were known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland.
The King's Rose has also been planted at other King's Foundation sites, including Dumfries House in East Ayrshire and Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire.
A Family Tradition
The Castle of Mey was one of the Queen Mother's beloved residences, which she purchased in 1952. She typically spent three weeks there each August, and the King, who has visited since a young age, has continued this tradition. The castle is now managed by The King's Foundation, which oversees green spaces with personal significance to the King. It will open to the public for tours from Wednesday, August 12.
Earlier this week, the King welcomed Scottish mountain rescue volunteers to the Castle of Mey for a special reception, where he recalled surviving a deadly avalanche almost 40 years ago. Several members of the 40-strong Assynt Mountain Rescue Team joined the King to mark the group's 50th anniversary. The King told them how he survived a 1988 avalanche that killed one of his closest friends, Major Hugh Lindsay, a former equerry to the late Queen Elizabeth, and injured another on the ski slopes of Switzerland.
Mey Highland Games
The reception came on the same weekend Charles visited the Mey Highland Games, where he was spotted sipping whiskey. Wearing his traditional kilt, the King met spectators and competitors at the Caithness event on Saturday. Charles has been Chieftain at the Mey Highland Games since 2002, taking over from his grandmother.
The King watched athletes compete in the tug o' war, with a group of firefighters winning the competition, and he shook hands with them. Other groups he met included the Wounded Highlanders, a team of injured military veterans who regularly participate in adaptive competitions at the games. The Mey Highland Games takes place each year at the John O'Groats showground, traditionally on the first Saturday of August.
