King Charles Coronation service: Deep elements of Scottishness stir at St Giles' Cathedral as King Charles presented with Honours

Gaelic, Scots and traditional music and song set the tone for the occasion as pageantry and pomp looked on.

Deep elements of Scottishness flowed through the thanksgiving service for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at St Giles’ Cathedral, where the humble met high calling in equal measure and events were wrapped up in a steady sense of Kirk. There were no thrones, dripping gilt or overly fancy show for the monarchs – although the cathedral’s “nicest chairs” were set aside for them.

By them sat the the Stone of Destiny, the ancient symbol of Scotland’s monarchy, arriving without fanfare in a non-descript van in in the early hours of Wednesday morning. There, in the sanctuary of St Giles’, itself remodelled to bring people closer into the body of the Kirk and create a greater democracy of worship, the weight rested on a neat wooden plinth and small green velvet cushion – this simple piece of stone that carries maximum symbolism of Scotland’s royal history and sovereignty. Outside, protesters shouted ‘Not My King’.

Meanwhile, inside a service in Scots, Gaelic, tradition and talent unfolded with music and song from the Highlands, islands and the Lowlands, filling the space among the medieval vaults as the sounds of the country, the hills, the people, the place were conjured.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive for the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and the presentation of the Honours of Scotland at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. Picture date: Wednesday July 5, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story ROYAL King. Photo credit should read: Lisa Ferguson/PA Wire

The protesters, whose numbers had grown at the corner of Lawnmarket from the early hours, had become loud enough for their rallying cry to seep in to the cathedral, the quiet moments of the service a little jarred by the repetitive chant.

As the sound drifted into what was essentially a religious service, someone in the congregation whispered over they wished the pipes outside would start up again. Prayers and the blessings of different faith groups were jarred too by the sound of the protest, but the overriding message of the homily from the newly installed Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Rt Rev Sally Foster, was that Scotland was a tapestry, a beautiful one, where sight was narrowed when different perspectives were not embraced.

Around 600 people were invited to witness the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication at St Giles’ Cathedral, once the place of worship of James VI. While much had been done to modernise the ceremonial used in 1953 when Elizabeth II received the honours, it is also true that traditions of centuries of Scotland’s monarchs were pulled deep from the years of the Stuart Dynasty for the occasion. It came on a warm, sunny afternoon on the Royal Mile where people had gathered, some with sandwiches, stools and flags, to enjoy their moment in this long-running timeline.Inside, First Minister Humza Yousaf arrived with his wife Nadia El-Nakla as the cathedral filled with a performance of the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond by the Ayoub Sisters, who performed several traditional melodies in gorgeous fashion. Soprano Karen Cargill took it higher with All in the April Evening, which was performed with the Honours of Scotland Ensemble. The justiciary, the honoured and the elected took their places.

The National Youth Choir and National Chamber Choir pinned the congregation still with their performance of Burns’ Afton Water, which runs not far from the King’s favoured Dumfries House. Their elevated take on Ca’ The Yowes, the ploughman poet’s song of a shepherdess heading up into her hills, rose to a crescendo that silenced everything in its wake.

Violinist Nicola Benedetti performing during the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and the presentation of the Honours of Scotland, at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

As the final note held, the Honours of Scotland drew nearer to St Giles’, the muscular show of the military guard of honour – bayonets at the ready and thumping drum – at contrast to a soft air that had formed in the cathedral. Nicola Benedetti moved with Farewell to Stromness, while Ryan Corbett has probably never made the accordion sound so good than with his version of Phil Cunningham’s Loch Katrine’s Lady. The tune took the mood far from the city, the capital, into greener, simpler places.

Corbett followed with a version of Dougie MacLean’s pub classic Caledonia, sung gently by Robert Lovie. In this place of worship, a sense of reflection appeared to fall on these well known words, which seemed to strike a chord with the congregation; for those who have fought for her regiments, for those who have led her people, for those who have left her and for those who have simply grown from her.

Outside: Not My King, Not My King.

Then, the Honours arrive at the cathedral and the Court of the Lord Lyon appear as if they have just leaped from a deck of playing cards, with their tabards ablaze with Lion Rampants in red and yellow, black hats and white breeches. Dr Joseph Morrow, the King of Arms, leads this somewhat unknown, yet important body, which registers and regulates heraldry in Scotland. Set up in 1672, the Lyon Court was a creation of the Stuart Monarchs and the heraldic titles today are the same as they were during the time of Mary, Queen of Scots.

The Elizabeth Sword, part of the Honours of Scotland and carried by Dame Katherine Grainger, is presented to King Charles III at St Giles' Cathedral: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Among the procession are figures such as Lyon Macer, Unicorn Persuivant and the Linlithgow Pursuivant Extraordinaire, their presence forming like a game of olde of which no one quite knows the rules.

Their appearance signals the beginning of ceremony as the Honours are led in. The first, the Elizabeth Sword – newly forged at Powderhall Foundry for the occasion given the fragile condition of the Sword of State, a papal gift to James IV – was carried by Dame Katherine Grainger, the Olympic gold rower and chancellor of the University of Glasgow. At absolute ease with the new sword, which weighs 7.5kg and reportedly twice the weight of that carried by Penny Mordaunt at the Coronation, Dame Katherine gently lay the piece, which cost £22,000, on the white cloth of the Honours Table. It was then followed by the Sceptre, a gift to James IV from Pope Alexander VI as a mark of papal support for Scotland as a 'special daughter' of the Holy See. A symbol of justice and authority, it was laid on the table by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk, as her wigged and robed colleagues from the College of Justice looked on.

Lastly, came the Hereditary Crown, made in its present form for James V and carried into St Giles’ by Alexander Douglas- Hamilton, 16th Duke of Hamilton. His grandfather presented the Crown to Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles back in 1953, family duties inherited, family lines continuing. In September last year, the 16th Duke lay the same Crown on the coffin of Elizabeth II, then marking the end of one reign and now the beginning of another.

With the treasures on the table, the way is clear for the King and Queen to arrive with the scene set with a blast from The State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry who pump a newly-composed piece – Balmoral Flourishes – all around St Giles’. The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay appear, he cloaked in the deep, green velvet robes of the Order of the Thistle, Scotland’s highest chivalric order. His father, the King, appears in the same vestments as does Queen Camilla, who was newly awarded the honour just a month ago.

Dame Katherine Grainger carries The Elizabeth Sword, which forms part of the Honours of Scotland into St Giles' Cathedral. PIC: Lisa Ferguson/PA Wire

They take their “nicest seats”, which are also green velvet and stitched with a thistle, and the service begins. Those deep Scottish elements shift again – Joy Dunlop sings a Gaelic Psalm ‘And I Shall Dwell in God’s House’, and her voice sounds as if was channelled in another world, another time.

Next is Gospel reading in Scots by Christina De Luca, former Edinburgh Makar and Elder of the Church of Scotland. Benedetti, with the Honour of Scotland, simply stuns with her rendition of Soay from the Lost Songs of St Kilda, playing her violin with a type of conviction as if she has minutes in which to right a terrible wrong.

As the Honours are presented to King Charles III and Camilla, the service moves into the final moments. The Moderator declares “the worship is over, the service begins” and the cathedral empties to the sounds of a new piece commissioned for the new monarch, which is played as he leaves St Giles’. It is perhaps no surprise it is entitled The Call of Lochnagar.