Porty People and Nearby Places

Real Royalty. ( Spanish tautology!)

Here is HRH The Princess Royal, blipped in the street where we used to live.

She is, without parallel, the hardest working Royal and whatever you may or may not think about our Royal Family you cannot detract from this lady's enormous workload and genuine commitment.

In an earlier life we were privileged to escort her, briefly, at an event and it was a curious twist of time that we saw her again, twice, today. Here for the second time in our former street, as she left the luncheon,  and earlier as she left the Quintinshill Railway Disaster centenary commemmoration at Rosebank Cemetery across the road from Pilrig Park.

The First Minister was also working hard today, attending this Edinburgh commemoration.  Interestingly I noted that she has a Skoda as her official car - and is clearly putting her State allocated budget to very responsible use.

100 years ago the streets of Leith witnessed the four hour funeral cortege making its way to this cemetery. Today, the large turnout, not only of the great and good, but also of the good, caring people of north Edinburgh ensured that the events of Quintinshill in May 1915 have NOT been forgotten.

It was a pleasure to meet, Ruth N and Kirsten W, alongside us in the crowd. Our conversations over some 40 minutes, as we stood in respect of the fallen, ranged over fascinating issues of Nationalism, Scotland's place in the Union and the fairness, or otherwise, of the Londoncentric media coverage of events north of Hadrian's Wall.

I have added, in the extra photos, a few further recollections of a very memorable and moving day.