Queen adds final stitch to new panel on Great Tapestry of Scotland

Queen Camilla made her mark on the Great Tapestry of Scotland as she added the final stitches to a new panel during a visit with the King.

The royal couple toured the visitor centre for the tapestry, which tells the story of Scotland, on Thursday to mark 10 years since the art project was completed and first went on display to the public.

During their visit to the centre in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, they viewed a new panel commemorating their visit and the coronation, and the Queen was then invited to help finish it.

The panel features an image of the Queen’s two Jack Russell rescue dogs and she added the final three stitches to one of their collars.

The tapestry charts 420 million years of Scotland’s history, heritage, innovations and culture through 160 panels.

Dorie Wilkie, stitch coordinator for the project, showed the Queen, who is patron of the Royal School of Needlework, which part of the panel to sew.

She said: “The Queen said she is the worst at sewing in the world but she did very well. Afterwards she was joking with the King saying ‘I’ve done some sewing on the panel’.”

Two women charged after protests and arrests at King’s coronation event in Scotland

Charles presented with Scotland’s crown jewels – four arrested as protesters shout ‘not my king’

King Charles set to receive the Honours of Scotland in Edinburgh

The panel also features references to the King’s interest in fishing, and an image of the Old Man of Lochnagar, from the children’s book that he wrote.

Crowds lined the street outside the visitor centre and cheered and waved Union Jack flags as the couple arrived. As they did so, they stopped to chat to well-wishers as they walked into the building.

Once inside, the King and Queen met artist Andrew Crummy, who designed the tapestry, and Alistair Moffat, a historian who decided which episodes in Scottish history would feature in it.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Mr Crummy was meeting the King for the second day in a row as he attended the investiture ceremony at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on Wednesday, having been made an MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to art and cultural heritage.

The couple, who are in Scotland as part of Royal Week, also met author Alexander McCall Smith, who conceived the idea of the tapestry.

Mr McCall Smith said: “He comes across as a very kind man and a very sensitive man. So I think we are pretty lucky to have a head of state who is interested in this kind of thing.

“The tapestry is a living thing, there are some works of art that are static but this is the opposite of that, it really has an ongoing life.”

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Hand-stitched by 1,000 stitchers from communities across Scotland, the project took more than two years to complete and the finished tapestry toured the country in 2013 and 2014.

It is now housed at the visitor centre, which opened in August 2021.

Events featured in the panels include the Battle of Bannockburn, the foundation of the University of St Andrews, the Highland and Lowland clearances and the Clydebank Blitz.

The King, who was wearing a kilt in Charles Edward Stuart tartan, and Queen also met centre director Sandy Maxwell-Forbes and some of the stitchers involved in the project.

Read Entire Article