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It’s a tradition that dates back to Queen Victoria, when she was enthralled by the sound of bagpipes on her first holiday in her beloved Scottish Highlands.
Since 1843 there has been a piper for the sovereign, and their role is to play for 15 minutes outside the monarch’s window at 9am every day, providing a rather unique wake-up call.
And for the first time since His Majesty King Charles III acceded to the throne, flute Major Paul Burns, of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was seen playing for him at Windsor Castle this week.
He could be seen from the Long Walk outside the window of the King’s private chambers, though the wind whipped at the sound of what he was playing.
Although Pipe Major Burns did the same for the late Queen Elizabeth II, her apartments faced a different direction and could not be seen from any public areas.
Since 1843 there has been a piper for the Sovereign, and their role is to play for 15 minutes outside the monarch’s window at 9am every day, providing a rather unique wake-up call.
While Charles, who revived the role of official harpist to the Prince of Wales to promote talented Welsh musicians, is eager to simplify the monarchy, there are some royal traditions he wishes to uphold. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were staying at Taymouth Castle with the Marquess of Breadalbane, who had his own personal piper of his own, an idea that pleased the young monarch very much.
Victoria subsequently wrote to her mother, the Dowager Duchess of Kent, saying: “We have heard nothing but bagpipes since we were in the fair Highlands and I have grown so fond of them that I intend to have a bagpipe.” . . in Frogmore [her home at Windsor].’
Pipe Major Burns did the same for the late Queen Elizabeth II before she passed away.
The family is now on his 17th piper, and he follows the King from house to house.
Subsequent monarchs continued the tradition, apart from a brief four-year hiatus during World War II. The sovereign’s first piper was Angus MacKay, a noted collector and publisher of piobaireachd (flute music). Every subsequent Piper has been a serving NCO and an experienced Pipe Major of a Scottish or Irish regiment.
Although Piper is a member of the royal house, she retains her military rank for the duration of the secondment.
The family is now in their 17th piper, following the King from house to house, be it Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House or Birkhall, plus Sandringham, due to a lack of accommodation.
The role of Royal Piper is considered one of the most prestigious for musicians in the Armed Forces. He (and so far there have only been men) is the only non-royal allowed to wear the Balmoral tartan.
The role comes with other groom-type duties, such as assisting at a variety of royal events, including investitures.
Gordon Webster, who was Piper to the Sovereign in the mid-to-late 1990s, said the experience was “fantastic – the best channeling job in the world.” Speaking about the role, he continued: “Because the Queen didn’t like you repeating the tunes every other day, she probably had about 700 or 800 tunes and they’re all [in my head] because as a piper you don’t use music.’
The current incumbent of the post, Pipe Major Burns, who hails from Ingleby Barwick on Teesside, woke the late Queen Elizabeth II on her last morning at Balmoral and had a huge role to play after her death.
Although Piper is a member of the royal house, she retains her military rank for the duration of the secondment.
He played a moving lament as his coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault at the September interment service in Windsor.
Earlier in the day, he had closed the official funeral at Westminster Abbey with a chilling rendition of Sleep, Dearie, Sleep.
Not long before the funeral, another former royal piper, Piper Senior Scott Methven, 48, praised Piper Senior Burns as “an excellent piper and a good man.”
Methven, who left the army in 2019 after 25 years and now teaches bagpipes, also gave insight into the role and jokes he shared during his time with Her Majesty. On one occasion, the Queen, who was only 5ft 3in, teased him about her height. She revealed: “She once joked that I was the first piper to hold the position whom she didn’t have to look up to, a mockery of my 5ft 6in height.”
Pipe Major Methven, who served in the role from 2015 to 2019, fondly remembers his time as part of the royal household, previously telling The Spectator how the wind had blown his kilt up in front of the Queen, ‘briefly exposing him’ as a ‘true Scotsman’.
He added: “Later, while escorting Her Majesty, she asked me if it had been a particularly cold morning.” She also shared the fact that the Queen had given her an affectionate nickname.
Once, after mistakenly addressing the Queen and hastily issuing a correction, she replied: ‘Pipes, it’s been 60 years since someone called me Your Royal Highness and I quite liked it.’ She also revealed his great kindness, saying the late monarch had “taken him out of the bag” when his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2017.
As well as ensuring that Piper’s two young children were cared for by royal nannies in Balmoral when their mother was in hospital, the Queen also arranged to send a basket of strawberries and muffins to her nurses.
“Her Majesty supported me in everything that happened in my private life,” Bagpipe Commander Methven said fondly.
The current incumbent of the post, Pipe Major Burns, hailing from Ingleby Barwick on Teesside, woke the late Queen Elizabeth II on her last morning at Balmoral and played a huge role after her death.
According to the ex Piper, he would have a good laugh with the royal family when they were at Balmoral. He said: ‘I remember one night, it was just the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and various other family members.
‘The guests hadn’t arrived so I said I’d mix it up and made movies [theme tunes] in the bagpipes
“I would go around the tables and it would be Top Gun. . . and the Prince of Wales (now King Charles) asked me if I could do AC/DC Thunderstruck.’
Presumably heavy metal rockers aren’t the favorites in Windsor.
Or at least not at 9 in the morning.