The Royal Mile, Edinburgh: 1968

 

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh: 1968

 

What an introduction to Scotland – to be mistaken for Royalty.  But that’s exactly what happened.

 On our family tour of Scotland in 1968, we (my parents, my younger brother and myself) arrived in Edinburgh, which was crowded with visitors.  Armed with tickets for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, we drove through the heart of Edinburgh and we turned off the main street (Princes Street) to find parking somewhere close to the castle, where the Tattoo was to take place.

 

Edinburgh Castle: 1968

 We were surprised to find helpful policemen waving us on up the hill, and very soon we seemed to be the only vehicle in a sea of people walking up the Royal Mile to the castle.  This felt very strange, but we continued to obey the traffic police until we found ourselves directed into a small parking area immediately in front of the castle gates.  A policeman was standing there.  My father wound down his window.  The policeman looked into the car and said:

 “You ARE part of the Royal party, aren’t you, sir?”

 To which my father, with great presence of mind, took out our tickets and replied:

 “There, does that make us any more royal?” 

 The policeman didn’t seem very amused, and we were ordered to relinquish the parking space immediately.  The rest of us quickly jumped out of the car and my father drove carefully back down the Royal Mile through the oncoming crowds as the royal motorcade, containing the Queen and other important people, pulled into the vacated space. 

 People were looking at us curiously, wondering which of the royals we were.  We quickly blended into the crowd and found our seats for the performance. 

 It was some time before our Dad joined us, having had some difficulty finding a non-royal parking space.  Perhaps this was all recorded on the TV cameras, as the Tattoo was being telecast live on BBC, in front of the Queen.

 Such was our arrival in Edinburgh.

 

The Passionate Hiker

Posted on the day that the convoy carrying the coffin of our late Queen arrived in Edinburgh from Balmoral Castle, driving down the Royal Mile on its way to Holyroodhouse.