Is the Queen in?

A little bit of local knowledge for guests at our Cottage who sometimes wonder if the Queen is in residence at The Palace of Holyroodhouse nearby.

The Royal Standard is flown when the queen is residing at one of the royal residences, on the queen's car during official journeys and on aircraft before and after flights. It also may be flown on any building during a visit by the Queen.

When the Royal Standard of the King of Scots is flying above Holyrood Palace or Balmoral Castle, it means the queen is not in residence.

So, yesterday morning when the Queen was receiving Pope Benedict XVI at the Palace of Holyroodhouse there was an enormous flag flying (the picture on the left here), and today it was back to the little one meaning she wasn't there.

I took a wander past this morning on my way up to Salisbury Crags where the ascent took my breath away and the views were as breathtaking as ever. Then I went back down to welcome our new guests to the cottage.

They are here from Australia to settle their son at Edinburgh University, and they're spending a couple of weeks in Edinburgh seeing the sights and exploring before they head back. Hopefully it will be the first of many visits. They have been doing lots of eating out at various restaurants nearby, and loved Angels with Bagpipes, Wedgwood (The Restaurant), and are hoping to visit The Tower and Kitchin this week too. Lots of fine dining opportunities. They're also off to investigate the Edinburgh Farmer's Market tomorrow to see what excellent Scottish produce is on offer.