For the crowds standing on tiptoes along the Royal Mile, the only visible symbol of the Royal Company of Archers will have been the eagle feathers fluttering high above their caps.
Led by Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch, the company’s captain-general, the Archers formed part of the guard of honour as the coffin bearing the Queen was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles’. Inside the cathedral, the King and his brothers and sister stood alongside four suited members of the company, as they continued to stand guard armed with their longbows and quivers of arrows.
For centuries the Archers’ ranks have been drawn from Scotland’s loyal aristocracy, a tradition that persists. The company numbers about 300, with many of its members
