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| Holyrood Palace |
I
toured Holyrood
Palace, the home of Scottish Royalty since in 1503. Next to the old section of the Palace is its
ruined abbey. This is the Scottish home of Queen Elizabeth II and there were
special exhibits celebrating her platinum Jubilee, 70 years. She is also the
Colonel in Chief for four Scottish Regiments and was crowned as the Scottish
Queen in 1953. Charles II completed the Palace plan in 1671. The tour takes you
through the public rooms, each meant to impress visitors until you reach the
monarch’s bedroom. Along the way, are important portraits of the Stuart Kings
and Queens. The Great Hall is where most of the state occasions are held, it is
filled with portraits of ancient kings all with the nose of Charles II to
convince the people that he was of royal blood. We continued to Mary, Queen of
Scots bedchamber where she had discussions with John Knox about Catholicism
versus the Reformation. Here her private secretary was murdered by her husband.
Eventually, Mary fled to Elizabeth in London where she was jailed for 20 years
before execution. Her son, James VI also became James II of England.
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| Portraits of the Kings in the Great Hall |
After
touring the Palace, I climbed Calton Hill home of the
Nelson Monument, the unfinished War Memorial, and the city observatory. From
here you can see from the bridge over the Forth to the North Sea and most of
the central city. From the hill, I dropped into Princess Street in New Town
filled with people. The Sir Walter Scott Memorial is here as well as the Princess
Street Gardens which are far below the Castle.
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| Queen's Platinum Anniversary in the Gardens |
That
night I attended the Edinburgh Tattoo. We had timed this entire trip so that we would be able to attend the tattoo. Unfortunately Mary was too weak to walk to the show. Wow! I heard it was spectacular and so it was. It started with a simple beat on
a tub and grew to all the pipe bands blowing us away. Then we had 5 to 10 minute
performances from various countries: the US Army band, the US Air Force drill
team, Scottish highland dancers, the Top Secret Drum Corp, New Zealand Army
Corp, the Highland Divas, and Banda Monumental de Mexico. The final performance
was with everyone in a grand spectacular with fireworks. Throughout they used
light effects on the castle to create different atmospheres. What a show!
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