The heir to the throne was all smiles as he greeted crowds and spoke to officials at the games. The Prince of Wales, or the Duke of Rothesay as he’s officially known while north of the border, donned his finest Scottish attire for the event.

This included the family kilt in a green and red tartan, alongside a brown leather sporran.

He was later pictured taking a sip of whisky as many revellers enjoyed their first highland games since the Covid pandemic erupted last March.

According to The Press and Journal, 850 tickets were made available for the Highland Games in Braemar.

The Grampian Games Association said it hoped that this event would offer a “glimmer of hope” that all games will be able to return over the next few years.

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Charles and his wife Camillia, Duchess of Cornwall, have been touring Scotland ahead of rumoured “crisis talks” at Balmoral over the civil lawsuit his younger brother is facing.

The Duke of York was seen arriving at Balmoral earlier this week – shortly after Virginia Giuffre announced that she had launched a civil lawsuit against him.

In it, the 38-year-old formally accused him of sexually abusing her while she was being trafficked by billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The 61-year-old royal has always vehemently denied all the charges and insists he has “no recollection” of ever meeting her.

Charles – the patriarch of the family since Philip’s death in April – will no doubt be keen to limit the damage the scandal could cause the royals.

Andrew’s Newsnight interview in 2019 effectively ended his career as a front-line royal.

But the Queen’s favourite child has never been far from his mother – and it has been claimed that she could bail him out financially if he loses the case.