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Thursday 5 July 2012

Thistle 'do'

Royal Archers stand guard in b'ground
Well, that was fun!!
'That' being in St Giles Cathedral this morning for the installation of Prince William as a Knight of the Order of the Thistle.
order of service - green ink to match Thistle robes
Sheer happenstance a couple of weeks back meant that I ended up with a ticket to be in the Cathedral sitting in my best suit less than 15 feet away from the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne, and Prince William... and the assembled Order of the Thistle.
The industrial work gear being worn by the Order, Court of the Lord Lyon, and the Company of Royal Archers was utterly fab.

burgundy is apparently the colour of one's limo
Still grinning and finding it all rather tricky to concentrate on getting back to writing up the thesis... no photos during the event - as it would have been rather poor form to have done so during what was a service of worship ... but before the event, I took a photo from where I was sitting... chairs in foreground for the assembled Order, the two 'big' chairs for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh...to the right of the Queen sat Prince William -  yes, I really was 'that' close.

One's bit of paper from the protocol people to let one in for the Thistle do...

3 comments:

spotthegerbil said...

Shouldn't that be Thistle Dhu?

http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanLargeImage.aspx?ref=4103

Mrs Gerbil said...

And I always thought it would take place in the Thistle Chapel...making it a very intimate event indeed!

Nik said...

Greetings Gerbils! :D

I have always been bemused by the names people give to their houses: 'Thistle Dhu' being indeed one such example! Nice when someone gets the joke :)

Mrs G - it was a game, er, ceremony of 2 halves. The 'company' processed in and straight through to the Thistle Chapel where William made his promises/ and prayers said. Once that bit had been done, they then processed back into the centre of the Cathedral for the rest of the service with the rest of us plebs. Interesting mix of a public, private ceremony.