Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie
joined the Royal family for the traditional
Sunday church service at Balmoral.
The couple, who joined the Royal party at the
Braemar Gathering the previous day, attended
the service at Crathie Church.
The Blairs smiled and waved at members of the
public who lined the final stage of the route to
the small granite church.
Their car was followed minutes later a black
Rolls-Royce containing the Queen, dressed in
pale purple, the Duke of Edinburgh and the
Prince of Wales, who were both wearing kilts,
and Prince Harry in a dark blue suit.
It was closely followed
by a second Rolls
containing the Queen
Mother, who drew
applause from
spectators as she
stepped from the car.
Mr and Mrs Blair are
spending the weekend
with the Queen at her
residence in nearby
Balmoral.
On Saturday they were guests at the Braemar
Gathering, which has been patronised by the
Royal family for 150 of the 183 years people
have come together for traditional Highland
dancing, music and sport.
Present were the Queen Mother - who missed
last year's event through illness - the Queen,
in a mulberry suit and hat, the Duke of
Edinburgh and Prince Charles, both in kilts, and
Prince Harry.
Prince Harry was making his first appearance
at the event.
Around 18,000 members of the public watched
a variety of Highland sports, including tossing
the caber, the tug-of-war, and Highland
dancing and the Queen presented prizes to the
winners of various events.
Retired Supreme Court
judge Martin Evans,
who had travelled from
New York, said: "I think
it's remarkable. It's a
very historic tradition,
something that the
people of Scotland can
be proud of."
Joe Brown, from
Edinburgh, who had
travelled to the event
with his wife Sue,
described it as "great"
and he said that the tug-of-war was one of
the highlights for him.
The Braemar gathering was made fashionable
by Queen Victoria who attended during her
first visit to Balmoral in 1848.
The Queen is the Royal patron of the event.
Mr Blair surprised spectators last year by
becoming the first Prime Minister within living
memory to attend the gathering.
He also performed a series of Scottish
engagements on Friday, including a visit to the
National Gallery of Scotland.