Local Customs
May 2015Atholl Gathering and Highland Games
23.05.15 - 24.05.15
Blair Castle, Fife, Scotland
This is the first Highland Games of the season, and offers a range of activities, including highland dancing, piping, races, tossing the caber and firing the cannon.
It is unique in that it also includes the annual parade of the Atholl Highlanders, Britain's only legitimate private army. First formed in 1778 by the Fourth Duke of Atholl, the army was destined to fight in the American War of Independence (though they only got as far as Ireland). The Atholl Highlanders escorted Queen Victoria on her tour of Perthshire, and mounted guard for her when she stayed at Blair Castle.
The Regiment was presented with Queen Victoria's royal colours in 1845, and the colours are paraded on the day before the Blair Atholl Games.
