The Scottish Government has confirmed that John Swinney will not attend Alex Salmond’s funeral.

A spokesperson said it was “in line with the wishes” of the former first minister’s family.

Mr Salmond, who led Scotland from 2007 until resigning after the independence referendum in 2014, died suddenly on Saturday, October 12 after suffering a heart attack at an event in Ohrid, North Macedonia.

His family funeral will take place this afternoon, in Strichen Parish Church.

Reverend Ian McEwan, a friend of the Salmond family, will conduct the service before a private burial at Strichen cemetery.

Eulogies will be given by Mr Salmond's friend and colleague Kenny MacAskill, the SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, and the Alba leader’s niece Christina Hendry, who is the daughter of his sister Gail Hendry.

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When asked if Mr Swinney would be attending, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “In line with the wishes of Mr Salmond's family, the funeral is private. The thoughts of the First Minister and the Scottish Government remain with the family and friends of Mr Salmond.”

The SNP leader will almost certainly pay tribute to his predecessor on Wednesday when the Scottish Parliament is expected to debate a Motion of Condolence.

Meanwhile, Alba has hit out at Holyrood security after one of their activists was asked to remove a “political” t-shirt because it displayed a quote from Mr Salmond.

The woman was part of a group who had travelled from Aberdeen to sign the book of condolences opened in the parliament.

She was wearing a plain blue t-shirt, with the quote, “Scotland is a country, not a county” on the back.

The words were taken from Mr Salmond’s final social media post.

Sharing an image of the slogan, Aye Aberdeen said: “Just after this photo was taken security came over. The t-shirt had to be removed. It was deemed too political.

“It’s a statement of fact. Scotland is a country. Yet security deemed it not suitable to be said in ‘the people’s parliament’.”

Alba Aberdeen added on X: "A shocking disgrace at Holyrood when signing Alex Salmond book of condolences.

"The sentence printed on the T-shirt was deemed 'political'. It is a fact. Besides – it is the people’s parliament – where politics exist!"

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “The Parliament’s visitor behaviour policy prohibits the display of flags, banners and political slogans inside the Holyrood building, including on clothing and accessories.

“Visitors displaying political slogans are asked to remove or cover up such items before being allowed entry.

“However, to avoid anyone being turned away on Saturday, the Parliament set up a second Book of Condolence within the public entrance to Holyrood.

“This gave visitors the choice of signing the book there without having to remove any slogans, or proceeding into the Parliament’s Main Hall where the other Book of Condolence has been located for public use.

“The Alba Party’s website highlighted the Parliament’s visitor policy to cavalcade participants on Friday.”