THE King and Queen are preparing for a series of engagements north of the border as Royal Week gets under way in Scotland.
The pair attended the opening of the Scottish Parliament's new session on Saturday, Holyrood’s seventh session since it was established in 1999 following news that the core funding of the monarchy is to jump to £100 million a year, almost doubling in the space of three years.
The monarch traditionally spends a week based at the Palace of Holyroodhouse each year in what is known as Holyrood Week or Royal Week in Scotland.
Tuesday
Charles will begin his official engagements by receiving a Royal Salute and inspecting a guard of honour provided by Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
He will then be formally welcomed to the Scottish capital with the Ceremony of the Keys, in which Lord Provost Robert Aldridge will present the keys to the City of Edinburgh to the King, who will return them for safe keeping.
The King will also preside over an investiture ceremony at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Tuesday.
Those receiving honours will include forensic scientist Lorna Dawson, who was awarded a damehood in the New Year Honours, and New Seekers singer Eve Graham, who becomes an MBE for services to the music industry.
Simon Milne, regius keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, also receives a knighthood for services to botany, conservation and horticulture.
Later on Tuesday, the King and Queen will host guests at a garden party at the palace, alongside the Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, the King and Queen will attend the Order of the Thistle service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, together with the William, the Duke of Rothesay and the King's brother Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Thursday
The following day, the King will visit Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, where he will view a procession taking place as part of the town’s Jethart Callant festival.
During the visit, he will also be invited to start the annual game of hand ba’, a street sport that has been played in the town each year since 1704.
Friday
The Duke of Edinburgh will bring Royal Week to a close on Friday 3rd July by hosting a celebration for Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award recipients in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
'Out of control' royal funding
Under a new formula for calculating the Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, the Royal Household is to receive £99.9m as a core grant in 2027-28, a jump of £48.1m compared with the core grant of £51.8m in 2024-25.
The change was decided upon by Royal Trustees – outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and the King’s Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer James Chalmers.
The boost will be used to pay for a backlog in maintenance at occupied royal palaces, strengthen cyber security at royal residences, and for the installation of energy efficient heating systems, with £11 million set aside to replace boilers nearing the end of their life at Windsor Castle.
Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, criticised the announcement, with chief executive Graham Smith branding royal finances “out of control”.
