On the 5th of July, His Majesty King Charles III was presented with the Honours of Scotland during the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication ceremony. At our Patron’s request the National Piping Centre participated in every aspect of the event. The Centre’s founder and Chair, Lady Oona Ivory, was invited to attend the ceremony at St Giles’ Cathedral in recognition of her work in creating and supporting the Centre’s development over the past 25 years. Our other founder, Sir Brian Ivory, a member of The Royal Company of Archers (The King’s Honorary Bodyguard for Scotland), was on duty with the King in St Giles’ Cathedral.
Our National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland were given the extraordinary honour of leading the procession of the Crown, Sceptre and Sword from the Great Hall at the top of Edinburgh Castle where the Honours normally live, through the Castle itself to the drawbridge. These pipers were Charlie Mack, Emma Hill, Calum Kaye, Lewis Russell, Hazel Whyte and Thomas Fallon. They are members of the Junior and Senior bands of The NYPBS which TNPC founded 20 years ago.
Kenny Sichi, our long-standing maintenance technician and 99 others, all of them chosen to represent different facets of Scottish life, formed a Peoples’ Procession from the Castle to St Giles’ Cathedral, accompanied by a military escort and Cadet Force bands.
NYPBS Piper Hazel Whyte expressed her gratitude for the experience, stating: “It was an absolute privilege to be part of the team piping The Honours of Scotland for King Charles III today, an experience I’ll remember forever.”
The National Piping Centre is immensely proud to have been involved in this truly historic occasion and to have been recognised in this way as an essential part of the fabric of the nation.