Balmoral

Cabinet 14

Queen Victoria was a major influence in reviving Highland culture, along with novelist Sir Walter Scott (the first novel she read was Scott’s Bride of Lammermoor).

Victoria attended the Highland Games at Braemar, and even professed to herself that she was a Jacobite.

The first modern-day Games took place in 1832, recovering from the disastrous Act of Proscription (1746) that banned dress, culture, music and clan gatherings. Ever since Victoria’s time, the reigning Monarch has been the patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society.

Here is one kilted Highlander, no doubt capable of tossing the caber and playing the pipes. The famed McGregor tartan is also on display.

[John Payne], A New and Complete System of Universal Geography. Vol. I. Edinburgh: Printed for R. Morison and Son, Booksellers, Perth, 1796.

The Scottish Clans and Their Tartans. 41st ed. Edinburgh: Johnston & Bacon Ltd., 1968. Private Collection