And the band played on...

Had the fantastic honour of being a guest at Holyrood Palace today, where hundreds of young people received their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards from the man himself.

The rain stayed off, the young people and their families were beaming with pride and the military band belted out some rousing tunes. The Duke looked as sprightly as ever, with lots of banter with the young people.

Highlight of the day though was when we were on our way in and I was stopped by a wee girl and her brother, who breathlessly quizzed us about what was going on inside the Palace grounds. Was the Queen there? Would we get cake and tea? What was the party for? And then - the killer question - would there be a bouncy castle? Priceless..

There wasn't, more's the pity!