The Highland Capital has been awash with members of the Royal Family who have come to attend the Thistle service in the great city of Edinburgh. The Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Camilla have just been appointed to Scotland’s greatest order of chivalry, the Order of the Thistle. This order has 16 knights, drawn from illustrious men and women who have held great public offices or made notable contributions to national life alongside additional knights from the royal family.
Only the monarch can bestow this honour on someone, a noble mark of distinction, with recent recipients being the first black professor in Scotland, Sir Geoff Palmer, lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy, and anthropologist, Professor Dame Sue Black. The knights engaged in a procession to St Giles’ Cathedral from the Signet Library, clothed in their signature green velvet robes, white plumed hats, and badges suspended from the collar, depicting St Andrew with a halo.
The Duchess and Duke of Edinburgh, along with the Duke of Rothesay, attended the service in Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral, which was an integral component of their week-long stay in Scotland, for the royals Holyrood Week. Post the service, King and Queen went to Edinburgh Castle for an event celebrating the City of Edinburgh’s 900th anniversary.
It’s the great ceremonies, such as these, that bind the nation together, cementing the positive relationships between the commonwealth countries. The pageantry and ritual also help to forge a connection to the Royal family. With the nightingale of the Royal family bringing credibility, recognition, and continuity, the country’s cohesion and its identity are enhanced
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