Braemar is the third-coldest low-lying place in the UK after the villages of Dalwhinnie and Leadhills with an annual mean temperature of 6.8 °C (44.2 °F).

[11] The modern village sits over the Clunie Water, a strategically important crossing on the Elsick Mounth, an ancient trackway used by Picts and Romans.

[16] The Scottish Gaelic name Bràigh Mhàrr ('Upland of Mar') was originally applied to the general area; using Braemar for the village dates to around 1870.

[17] Before the 11th century, there were separate hamlets on each bank of the Clunie, Auchendryne on the west and Castleton on the east, or Bail Chasteil.

[18] According to legend, Malcolm III came to the area in around 1059, and built a timber bridge connecting the east and west banks.

[19] In 1795, a Roman Catholic Mass house was built on the high-ground to the west of Auchendryne, giving the name to Chapel Brae, which was used as a school.

[16] Until the 20th century, Braemar was largely owned by one of the adjoining Mar Estates, with Auchendryne and Invercauld on one side, Castleton on the other.

[16] Auchindryne (to use the spelling by Wyness) from Ach' an Droighinn ('field of the thorn') belonged to a branch of the Farquharsons until it was forfeited in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745.

[citation needed] St Ninian's Chapel, Braemar, completed in 1898, is the Scottish Episcopal Church place of worship.

Johann von Lamont (1805–1879), the Scottish-German astronomer and astrophysicist who pioneered the study of the Earth's magnetic field was born in nearby Corriemulzie.

Since Queen Victoria's time, the reigning monarch has been the patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society, and is styled Chieftain at the games.

Each dancer receives a tin of Walker's shortbread (hence the nickname 'Shortbread League') and a commemorative vase, picture or something similar.