Gillis Centre for Sale

 The Gillis Centre Complex in Edinburgh will be sold by the the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh in September.

The former St Margaret's Convent was the first post-Reformation Catholic convent or monastery in Scotland.  

Trinity Chapel Edinburgh

Mary of Guelders (c. 1434–1463), Queen consort of Scotland, founded the Trinity Collegiate Church in 1460 in memory of her husband, King James II, who was killed that year at the siege of Roxburgh Castle. Founded as a religious and charitable institution, which included the church and an adjoining almshouse (Trinity Hospital) for 13 poor individuals.Architecture: It was considered a "magnificent and sumptuous" example of 15th-century Gothic architecture, often called the most accomplished building of its time in Scotland. It was demolished in 1848 to make way for Waverly Station.

Many stones were numbered and stored with the intention of rebuilding the church. After decades of delay, a portion of the stones was used to construct Trinity Apse on Chalmers Close in 1870, which is now a Grade A listed building.During the 1848 demolition, remains thought to be Mary of Guelders were discovered and eventually re-interred in Holyrood Abbey.

The church's original Trinity Altarpiece is displayed in the National Gallery of Scotland. 

There is an exhibition starting in the Museum of Edinburgh on the High Street. The exhibition follows a two-year project led by Jill Harrison, founder of the Trinity Network, to trace and catalogue medieval stones dispersed across Edinburgh after the church was torn down. 

The exhibition also examines the rediscovery of three carved stone bosses donated by NHS Lothian which later ended up at the Astley Ainslie Hospital.

A programme of free talks and guided walks will accompany the exhibition during its run at the Museum of Edinburgh.

James iI and Mary of Guelders as portrayed in the Seton Armorial of 1591. 

Ceremony of the Keys

  The Lord Lyon, with Marchmont Herald and Bute Pursuivant, was on duty today for the Ceremony of the Keys with Her Grace the Lord High Commissioner Lady Elish Angiolini LT, DBE, KC.

Kirking of the Parliament

 The Lord Lyon attended the Kirking of the Scottish Parliament in the presence of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Many of the parliamentarians old and new were in attendance.

Rothesay at the William Souter Poetry Lecture

 Rothesay Herald was a guest at the annual William Souter Poetry Lecture in the neo-classical hall of Masonic Lodge Scone and Perth no3. The Matriculation of the Lodge Arms hangs in the Hall and the wall painting depicts the foundation of Scone Abbey by King Alexander I in 1175 AD.

Tartan Day

  The Lord Lyon led the Officers of Arms in the Tartan Day Procession in Edinburgh today.

Visit of the Japanese Consul

 The Lord Lyon was delighted to welcome Consul General of Japan in Edinburgh, Katsutoshi Takeda & Deputy Consul General, Ms Minori Ishii to the Lyon Office for a visit and tour.

Lyon Clerk showed them the page displaying the Royal Arms in the Public Register painted by Herald Painter, Clare McCrory, and signed by the late Queen in 2022.

100th Kate Kennedy Procession

 Rothesay Herald attended the 100th Kate Kennedy Procession today - where the outstanding contribution of the late Mark Dennis CStJ sometime Ross Herald Extraordinary to the heraldic art and costumes of the event was recognised.

280th Anniversary of Culloden

 The indefatigable Kevn Greig (far left in the photograph) of the Lyon Office attended the annual Remembrance gathering at Culloden today. What a splendid display of flags.

Happy National Unicorn Day

  Happy #NationalUnicornDay2026! We mark it this year with the crest of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope.

We also have some unicorns for you to colour in: https://shorturl.at/5YSU7

Scottish Tartan Day

 We mark Scottish Tartan Day with the arms granted to the Scottish Tartans Authority in 2004.

Azure, fretty Argent, in chief a shuttle and in base an pen book Proper binding and fore-edges Gules.

The crest is a hand in pale Proper holding an ell measure Sable.

Happy Easter!

  Happy Easter to all our followers! Appropriately here are the  Arms of the Corporation of the Town of Perth, Ontario, granted in 1980 before Canada had its own Heraldic Authority, showing the Paschal Lamb.

Blazon: Gules a Holy Lamb passant reguardant, staff and cross Argent with the banner of St Andrew Proper all within an orle of the Second.

600th Anniversary of the Scottish Unicorn!

 

Heraldic badge of Uncorn Pursuivant painted by Yvonne Holton

The 1st April 2026 marks the 600th anniversary of the first mention yet-discovered of Unicorn Pursuivant.  It occurs in a charter held by the University of Aberdeen:

There is a damaged 1439 seal of Queen Joan Beaufort, widow of James I and Regent for her son, James II, showing the Queen's arms impaled with those of the King of Scots and supported, at least on the dexter, by what appears to be a unicorn. Why this should be so is not entirely clear as the Beauforts did not use the unicorn as a badge, only quills, portcullis and yale.

 It is was not until 1484 that the unicorn appears supporting the royal arms. The adoption of the unicorn emblem as a Stewart royal emblem (which then becomes associated with a ‘national’ emblem centuries later) becomes cemented in the reigns of James III and James IV, the latter also introducing the thistle.

The current Unicorn Pursuivant, Roderick Macpherson,

at National Unicorn Day at Stirling Caste.

Royal Unicorn of Scotland painted by the late Mark Dennis