King Charles is spending his summer holiday at the Castle of Mey in Caithness and photographs, released today, show the monarch wearing a kilt
The King dons his kilt in a brand new photo showing him starting his summer holiday in Scotland honouring his beloved grandmother.
Charles spends the first week of August at the Castle and Gardens of Mey in Caithness in the very north of Scotland, which coincides with the Queen Mother’s birthday. While there, the monarch planted a rose called the King’s Rose, which was cultivated by David Austin Roses in partnership with The King’s Foundation and named in his honour. He planted it in the castle’s Diamond Jubilee Rose Garden.
It joins two sycamore trees at the front of the castle planted by Charles and Queen Camilla in 2005, when they were still known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland.
The King’s Rose has also been planted at The King’s Foundation sister sites – Dumfries House in East Ayrshire and Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire.
The Castle and Gardens of Mey was one of the beloved residences of the Queen Mother, who purchased the castle in 1952. The Queen Mother typically spent three weeks at the castle in August each year and the King, who has visited from a young age, has continued this tradition.
It is now managed and run by The King’s Foundation, which oversees a range of green spaces with personal significance to the King. The Castle and Gardens of Mey 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 the terrifying experience of surviving a deadly avalanche almost 40 years ago.
Several members of the 40-strong Assynt Mountain Rescue Team joined the King, who hosted a special reception to mark the group’s 50th anniversary.
The volunteers were told by the King how he survived a 1988 avalanche that killed one of his closest friends, Major Hugh Lindsay – who was a former equerry to the late Queen Elizabeth – and injured another on the ski slopes of Switzerland.
The reception came on the same weekend Charles paid a visit to the Mey Highland Games, where he was spotted sipping a dram of whiskey.
Wearing his traditional kilt, the King met spectators and competitors enjoying the Caithness event on Saturday. Charles has held the title of Chieftain at the Mey Highland Games since 2002, when he took it over from his grandmother, the late Queen Mother.
The King watched as athletes participated in the traditional tug o’ war, with a group of firefighters taking part. Charles shook hands with the group after they won the competition.
Other groups to meet the King included the Wounded Highlanders, a team of injured military veterans who regularly take part in the adaptive competitions in the Mey Highland Games. The Mey Highland Games takes place each year at the John O’Groats showground, traditionally on the first Saturday of August.