An illicit party, a protest and a free breakfast as Scotland marks the royal wedding

Published on Friday 29 April 2011 15:56

THERE appeared to be a north-south divide today as only a minority of Scots turned out in public to celebrate the royal wedding - and some staged anti-royal protests.

While thousands took to the streets of London and waved union jacks at hundreds of planned street parties in towns around England, there was only a small number of equivalent events north of the border.

But there were exceptions to this general lack of interest on the special bank holiday.

In the Fife town where Prince William and Kate Middleton began their romance, more than 2,000 people attended a wedding breakfast in honour of the occasion.

The event, a community council initiative, began as a small idea but soon snowballed to become one of the most significant open-air events taking place outside London.

In St Salvator's Quadrangle at the heart of the ancient university, people made an early start to the festivities, with free food on offer including egg and sausage rolls and porridge.

John Montgomery, 44, from the Tayport area, came to the St Andrews event because his daughter was among those performing in the quadrangle alongside her primary school classmates.

"I think St Andrews feels responsible for all of this," he joked.

"The atmosphere's fantastic here. It's amazing really for a small Scottish town to have two billion people around the world watching it."

In Glasgow, there have been fears that an all-day unofficial party - organised through Facebook - could descend into chaos with 15,000 people planning to attend.

Police had warned that the "Kelvingrove Street Party" was "unsafe and unofficial", but that didn't stop several thousand people turning up to the event.

There have been no reports of arrests so far but police are monitoring the situation closely.

Edinburgh played host to more small-scale street parties than anywhere in Scotland, with numerous events taking place across the capital.

But as well as celebration, there was also dissent.

A group of more than 100 republicans chanted slogans at the gates of the Palace of Holyroodhouse - the Queen's official residence in Scotland - at the same time as crowds cheered the newlyweds from the streets of London.

Protesters walked to the foot of the Royal Mile, briefly holding up traffic and open-topped tourist buses between the palace and Scottish Parliament.

A small number of police kept the group to one side of the road as they chanted slogans including "Whose palace? Our palace", and "one solution - execution".

A hastily-drawn placard also declared "Let them eat cake".

Gerry Corbett, a member of the Scottish Socialist Party, who was holding a banner at the front of the protest, said: "As individuals, I don't really care about the royal family. We believe in a republic where people are elected, not some unelected monarchy.

"At a time when there are massive budget cuts, this is a distraction."