From the Unicorn Pursuivant to a chap called Green Rod, a curious cast of characters gathered at St Giles’ Cathedral for a ceremony both laced with the ancient and touched by the fantastical. The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle assembled on Wednesday to install its new Knights and Ladies, all handpicked by King Charles III to receive the often-called highest honour of the land. As well as selecting his wife and brother Edward for the accolade, his choices aim to reflect Scots of the greatest calibre, of the greatest public service and those who have changed the game in their respective fields.
Advertisement Advertisement Sign up to our History and Heritage newsletter Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. New members include a forensic anthropologist, a lawyer and women’s rights campaigner and Scotland’s first black professor, who has done much to illuminate the nation’s deep links to slavery. It is a ceremony high on costume, fanfare and pageantry.
If Lewis Carroll had cast his looking glass cast over the High Kirk, he may well have found inspiration. Central to ceremonies like these are the officers of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the heraldic authority of Scotland who, dressed in deeply woven tabards of red, gold and blue, appear as if they have sprung out of a de.