GOOD to see the Queen looking so relaxed, and she can really rock those sunglasses. Surely the smile is not caused by the splendidly attired chap behind her tickling her with an eagle’s feather?
The Queen is in Edinburgh in 1956 accompanied by members of the Royal Company of Archers, her official bodyguard in Scotland. But not the real bodyguard obviously. That’s provided by earnest men with earpieces scanning the crowd around her.
No, the Royal Company of Archers is actually a posh club in Edinburgh full of lords, bankers, and chaps who also play golf at Muirfield and belong to the New Club. It does have annual archery contests, though, so folk who know how to send an arrow into a target are encouraged to join so the contests are not a complete farce.
And even though you have to dress up like the lid of a shortbread tin, you do get to meet the Queen, so membership is eagerly sought.
The Herald’s former Assistant Editor Alistair Phillips once told of a tram conductress in Edinburgh attempting to collect a fare from one of the company returning home from a ceremonial appearance. “Eh, Robin Hood,’’ she is reported to have requested. “Would you take your quiver oot my face.’’
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here