Royal Scotland (1952)

This is a fairly unashamed ten minutes of soft-focus, tourist board, film-making that cannot fail to invite it’s viewer to visit Scotland. With the Police Pipe Band and the Kirkintilloch Children’s Choir serenading us with some rousing and some more melodic renditions of some haunting Scots folk songs, we travel from the pristine highlands where deer and grouse are ripe for the shooting down via St. Andrews for some golf. Then we pause for some hammer tossing at the games near King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s castle at Balmoral before arriving at another one at Stirling then entering the capital city ready for the pipes and drums in front of some fairly vast crowds in Edinburgh. We are also provided with a brief reminder of the events at Holyrood and Linlithgow Palaces concerning the ill-fated Mary, the last queen to rule an independent Scotland. It’s a very easy watch with a little history, archive and sentiment that paints a picture of a peaceful and vibrant kingdom