Published: Just now
Bagpipe music and Scotland go together. But not everyone appreciates waking up to the tunes, and now Queen Elizabeth’s guards have had to change their traditions.
Having the British Queen as a neighbor is not just sweet music.
At least not all residents of the village of Ballater, next to Queen Elizabeth’s Balmoral Castle in Scotland, think so, The Times reports.
The villagers are woken up every morning by bagpipe music – from 6am every morning the queen is on the estate.
Now the villagers have grown tired and got a change through. The bagpipe music is postponed an hour until 07:00, and the weekends will be music-free from now on.
“I have instructed my bagpipe players to play when they wake up at 6 a.m., at lunch at 12:30 p.m. and at 6 p.m. But it has become clear that not everyone appreciates waking up at 6 a.m. to ‘Johnny Cope,'” writes a spokesperson according to the newspaper, and continues:
“A number of (fairly) polite complaints have come to my staff so in the spirit of community I have decided to break with military tradition (but may I ask you not to swear at my soldiers)”.
Balmoral has so far been open to the public during the summer, but is now closing when the Queen and several members of her family will visit the castle in the Scottish Highlands.
The new order applies to all bagpipe players at Balmoral except one, the Queen’s personal piper. This man, Major Paul Burns, stands ready to play when the Regent so desires, which, according to The Times, is most mornings. The post of Regent’s Bagpiper is a coveted one within the Guild, and Burns is only the 17th in the order in nearly 180 years.