Free John Brown by Raymond Lamont-Brown

1st Earl Russell, who rode back with them to Balmoral.
    The Queen rapidly acquired a taste for the countryside around Balmoral and was keen to show off the sights to the seven-year-old Prince of Wales. At Ballochbuie they changed from the postchaise to ponies with the Prince of Wales riding astride the deer saddle of Head Keeper Grant’s pony; with a group of gillies from Balmoral, they explored the woods and braes of Craig Daign, and sat for a while in a wooden hurdle ‘box’ to watch for deer. There Queen Victoria and Prince Albert sketched for a while and the prince broke off from his drawing pad long enough to bag a ‘royal’. 34
    During this 1848 holiday Queen Victoria and the royal family attended the Highland Games at Invercauld House. The press reports and the regular attendance of royalty at the future Braemar Gathering added a respectability to the games and guaranteed a popularity which has endured ever since. Although clansmen had gathered on the Braes of Mar since the eleventh century, when King Malcolm III held a competition to select ‘his hardiest soldiers and his fleetest messengers’, Braemar was not the site of the first modern Highland Games. This honour has been given by historians to the first Highland Society Gathering at Falkirk Tryst in 1781. Although it was mainly a competition for pipers, the gathering developed and by 1826, the year John Brown was born, fullscale games had been established throughout Scotland. Also by 1826, the Braemar Wright’s Friendly Society – a charity to aid the sick, the aged, widows and orphans – had become the Braemar Highland Society to promote sport, the Scots language and culture. So here at Invercauld House, Queen Victoria was thoroughly entertained by the panoply of Scots Highland culture, ranging from dancing (once a male-only competition) to the athletic events of pole-vaulting, cabertossing, hammer-throwing and tug-of-war events. Queen Victoria became the royal patron of the games and a generous contributor to the society’s funds. Over the years the games became a royal event at Braemar Castle and Old Mar Lodge, with the Queen herself acting as hostess at Balmoral.
    As she travelled to Scotland for the August 1849 holiday aboard the royal yacht Victoria and Albert , Queen Victoria called at Cork, Dublin and Belfast on her first visit to Ireland. 35 By 13 August the royal yacht had entered the Clyde and proceeded up Loch Goil into Loch Long to anchor in Roseneath Bay. Prince Albert made several visits ashore around Loch Lomond while the Queen stayed aboard with her senior naval officers.
    On 15 August they were at Balmoral after a trip in the Fairy to Glasgow to attend presentations by civic dignitaries, and with visits to Glasgow Cathedral, the University and the Exchange. The royal party had proceeded by rail to Perth, with a stopover in the city, and thence by Spittal of Glenshee and Castleton of Braemar to Balmoral. As usual, the royal party were greeted and joined for the last part of their journey by local dignitaries; on this occasion they included General Sir Alexander Duff and Francis Godolphin D’Arcy Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds, who was staying at nearby Mar Lodge.
    A highlight of the 1849 holiday was the royal family’s first stay at Altnagiuthasach (‘The Hut’), a lodge in Balmoral Forest near Loch Muick, some 9 miles south-east of Balmoral Castle. The royal party set out on 30 August on ponies, and Prince Albert walked the last 2 miles with the gillies. These royal outings were very ‘labour intensive’, with several attendants needed to supervise the food and equipment. Although the ponies carried the burdens, each one had to be led, as did the ladies’ and children’s ponies, for the ground was rough. It is certain then, as he was a gillie working with the ponies, that John Brown was involved in royal jaunts from the very first. When the royal family were out picnicking, John Brown usually brewed Queen Victoria’s pot of tea. On