Saturday 29th June 2019 saw The Royal Company of Archers march up the Royal Mile from Holyrood Palace to The Scottish Parliament. HM Queen Elizabeth would arrive shortly afterwards to address the parliament in its 20th anniversary
The Royal Company of Archers is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's Bodyguard in Scotland, a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV, when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his visit to Scotland. It is currently known as the Queen's Bodyguard For Scotland, and is located in Edinburgh, the capital city. The Royal Company of Archers has a long history in Scotland as a body that celebrated both the recreation and talent of local archers. As a body established by the Monarch, the Company has a long history of unique prizes, influential supporters, and ceremonial roles.
The Royal Company of Archers has its base in Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh at Archers' Hall. Building commenced on 15 August 1776, and was completed by Alexander Laing in 1777. The Hall was extended in 1900 by A.F. Balfour Paul, and recently refurbished. The Hall consists of a hall, forty feet by twenty-four, and eighteen feet high; two rooms of eighteen by nineteen, and kitchen, cellars, lobby, and other apartments. The ground behind the house is laid out into a bowling-green, known as The Meadows or Hope Park, a spot deriving its name from Sir Thomas Hope,[22] who drained and converted it into an archery ground, maintained by the Edinburgh Bowling Club. The Hall serves as a venue for various dinners and meetings of the company.[6]
The affairs of the Company are managed by a President and six counsellors, who are chosen annually by the whole membership. The Council is vested with the power of receiving or rejecting candidates for admission, and of appointing the company's officers, civil and military.[23]
The structure of the organisation is divided between officers (including a Secretary, currently David Younger) and members. By seniority, the officers comprise one Captain-General, four Captains, four Lieutenants, four Ensigns and twelve Brigadiers.
From the starting membership of 50 the number of the corps numbered about 1,000 in the late 18th century, but only exceeded five hundred by the 1930s. The Captain-General is the Gold Stick for Scotland.[24] In effect the size of the membership is more than that of a cadre light infantry battalion in low (reduced) establishment of three companies[25] than a company,[26] and would equate more to the British Army regiment.
Every officer of the Archers is of the rank of a general, and the privates of the corps rank at Court as colonels.[24]
George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton in the dress of the Royal Company of Archers at the turn of the 18th and 19th century, holding a longbow and a black-plumed white cockaded cap, in Holyrood Park, with Duddingston Loch and Edinburgh Castle beyond. (William Beechey)
Members of the Royal Company must be male and Scots or have strong Scottish connections. Membership is by election; the present membership totals around 530, with an active list of some 400 who pay an annual subscription of £25.
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