King Charles wears a kilt in Scotland for a day of dancing and sport before the summer break
The monarch presented the winning team with the tug-of-war trophy and was particularly pleased with a group of young dancers
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Euan Cherry/Getty
King Charles will attend the Mey Highland Games in Scotland on August 3, 2024
King Charles spends another summer in Scotland.
On August 3, the 75-year-old British monarch took part in the Mey Highlands Games, an annual celebration of the culture and talent of the North Highlands. The event was first held in 1970 for the Queen Mother’s 70th birthday and King Charles’ grandmother liked it so much that she encouraged them to make it an annual gathering.
King Charles wore a traditional kilt, as he often does on visits to Scotland, when he went to the John O’Groats Showground. There he sat in the front row under a tent to watch some performances. He and others in attendance seemed particularly charmed by some young dancers in colourful kilts and matching knee socks.
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Euan Cherry/Getty
King Charles will attend the Mey Highland Games in Scotland on August 3, 2024
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The ruler, who is also the leader of the games, also watched traditional Highland sports such as hammer throwing, sheaf throwing and stone throwing. The finale of the event was a tug-of-war competition and King Charles presented the trophy to the winning team.
“A wonderful day at the Mey Games!” was the caption to the event photos on the royal family’s official social media pages.
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Euan Cherry/Getty
King Charles will attend the Mey Highland Games in Scotland on August 3, 2024
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The following day, King Charles wore another kilt when he attended Sunday service at Canisbay Church in Caithness, near the Castle of Mey.
The royal resumed public royal duties in late April after several months of working largely behind the scenes due to his cancer diagnosis. He was excited to return to a normal routine, telling people on one outing he was glad to be “out of my cage.”
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Robert MacDonald/PA Images via Getty
King Charles visits the church in Scotland on August 4, 2024
It is likely that King Charles will spend much of the rest of the summer in Scotland, as he follows the British royal family’s long-standing tradition of taking time out from the spotlight at the end of August. He has a home on the Birkhall estate, and the royals meet at Balmoral Castle each year for activities such as hunting, fishing and horse riding.
Since becoming monarch in September 2022 following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, King Charles has maintained a tradition of travelling to Balmoral in Scotland. The historic Queen travelled to the 20,000-acre private estate every July and stayed there until October. There she managed to balance work and leisure, continued to receive her famous “red boxes” of documents every day and spent quality time with her loved ones.
“She deserves this time,” royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith previously told PEOPLE. “Balmoral has always been a place of rest and reflection. She has been going there since she was a child.”
“It’s where Prince Philip proposed to her and where she spent her honeymoon. It’s a place full of memories,” the author added.
Princess Eugenie said about the escape in the 2016 documentary Our queen at ninety, “I think Grandma is happiest there. I think she really loves the Highlands.”
While many members of the royal family will be heading to Scotland for the summer holiday, sources tell PEOPLE that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were not invited. While Harry, 39, goes to Balmoral every year, Meghan, 43, is believed to have never visited the royal residence. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to their home state of California after stepping back from their royal roles in 2020.
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