The Gathering 2009

However, despite being initially hailed as a success, subsequent revelations that the organisers had overseen a £600,000 loss led to the event's finances being described as a fiasco in the Scottish Press.

On the evening of 25 July, about 20,000 people lined the Royal Mile and watched the parade of about 8,000 clan members and pipe bands march from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.

[5] Visitors enjoyed traditional Highland Games, piping, dancing, live music performances, and sampled Scottish food, drink, as well as crafts and textiles.

Debts of £27,200 owed to the police and £12,000 to the ambulance service were unpaid, as was £24,000 to Edinburgh City Council to facilitate the closing of the Royal Mile for the clan parade.

[1] The Scottish Government, which gave The Gathering £280,000 from its own budget and those of EventScotland and Homecoming, was also forced to write off a £180,000 loan agreed just weeks before the event to ensure it went ahead as planned.

[6] Subsequently, however, Lord Sempill handed over intellectual property rights to the Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance as part of the deal whereby Historic Scotland was forced to write off the money owed to it by The Gathering Ltd.[1] Initially The Gathering's apparent success led to speculation over future events,[11] possibly in connection with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 2014.