Greenville Highland Games

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Wonderful! Scott, did you happen to have any photos of you and His Grace the Duke of Hamilton? Perhaps Matt took some? I am quite keen on seeing as many different photos from this particular games as possible. Stephanie and I should try to make it out next year - Greenville, SC isn't too terribly far from us (if we plan to stay the weekend).

What makes this event so interesting to me, is the simple fact that it attracts such a remarkable array of individuals from Prince Edward to a Marine Corps band...amazing! I believe I have seen photos of various clan chiefs who have attended the games in the past as well. Those who are in charge and "run the show" must do one heck of job getting such individuals to travel long distances to be a part of the festivities!

Cheers,

Generally speaking we try to book our "Chief of the Games" three to five years in advance as we have to work with their availability, and a variety of other details. In the instance of HRH we had to coordinate with the Palace, HRH's private secretary, the British Embassy, the Royal security detail, and a number of US, state, and local VIP security agencies. We had to arrange for hotels, media coverage, and the loan of four brand new Rolls-Royce motor cars (two sedans and two convertibles) of which, ultimately, only one would be used to convey the prince with the others on stand-by in case of mechanical mishap or a change in security requirements. The entire operation took three years to organize, and in the year leading up to HRH's visit it was virtually a full time job.

This year's "Chief of the Games" was His Grace the Duke of Hamilton, the premier duke of Scotland. Also in attendance were the Right Honourable the Earl and Countess of Eglington (chief of clan Montgomery); Viscount and Viscountess Montgomey (tanist of clan Montgomery); Viscount Dunrossil (Honorary British Consul and representative of his cousin the Chief of Clan Morrison); Mel Sinclair (representative of the Right Honourable the Earl of Caithness, chief of Clan Sinclair); Charles McKerrell of Hillhouse and Madam McKerrell (head of that ancient family and a patron of the Society of Scottish Armigers); several feudal barons and a fair number of armigers. As Matt eluded to in his original post I was present in my capacity as Deputy Director of the Greenville Scottish Games, as well as representing my chief, George MacMillan of MacMillan and Knap.

All credit for the excellence of the games goes to the indefatigable efforts of Mrs. Dee Benedict who has run the games since their inception more than seven years ago, and to the team of unpaid volunteers who work tirelessly with her to produce what are, simply, the best one day games in the world.