Aberdeenshire County Flag ready to be unveiled

The ‘Flag for Aberdeenshire’ will be revealed at Castle Fraser.

The ceremony follows a highly successful international open design competition with more than 800 entries and a subsequent shortlist put to a public vote.

The children who created the winning design will be escorted by The Drums & Pipes of The Gordon Highlanders Association and an ‘Honour’ Guard from The Lonach Highlanders.

They will present the flag to the Lord-Lieutenant at the castle doors and accompany him to the top of the tower, where the flag will be raised.

The Lord-Lieutenant welcomes the public to share this historic occasion and view the spectacle in the Castle grounds.

The castle itself will not open until 12.30pm, after the ceremony.

The National Trust for Scotland is marking the occasion by offering special discounted castle entry to non-NTS Members.

Mr Sandy Manson, The Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, said: “This project was inspired by The Lord Lyon of Scotland and led magnificently by two of my Deputy Lieutenants, the late Mrs Miranda McHardy and Mrs Jean Haslam.

"It has had wonderful support from within our communities and schools, stimulated pride and creativity in all ages, and attracted world attention to our beautiful county.

"The winning design has been tightly wrapped in secrecy and we look forward with great pride to announcing the flag which has been chosen by the public and sharing it across Aberdeenshire, Scotland and beyond.

"This unveiling ceremony will be a fitting occasion at Castle Fraser and I hope as many people as possible are able to join us for this historic moment.”

The ‘Flag for Aberdeenshire’ project was initiated in March 2022, when the Lord-Lieutenant, Mr Sandy Manson, discovered through dialogue through the Lord Lyon’s office that while Aberdeenshire had a long standing coat of arms it did not have a county flag like the majority of counties in Scotland.

Two Deputy Lieutenants, the late Mrs Miranda McHardy and Mrs Jean Haslam took this historic project forward, running an open competition to design a flag for Aberdeenshire.

With the help of Philip Tibbetts (Lyon Court Vexillologist for Scotland) a judging panel was formed. The Press and Journal agreed to publicise, collect entries and manage the public voting. Workshops were run by Philip Tibbetts during the first week in September 2022 in schools across the county. 820 entries were submitted during October, the largest ever response to a flag competition in Scotland.

A shortlist of five designs, shown below, was selected by the judging panel under the guidance of the Lord Lyon and Philip Tibbetts. These five selected designs went to a public vote during December 2022 and into the first week of January 2023, with 4,208 votes cast.

Which will be the chosen Flag? Come along to Castle Fraser at 10.30am on Saturday 22 April and find out for yourself.