Its Saturday 4th June and our big day has finally arrived – the long-awaited opening of our splendid Renaissance palace is here at last.  As I write this we’re just a few hours away from the start of our grand launch event, Stirling Palace Presents – A Palace Fit For A Queen.  Everything is in place, everyone is ready - and we can’t wait to get the celebrations started!

And what a treat we have in store for our visitors today and tomorrow.  Our magnificent palace - the star of the show – looks stunning.  Our huge cast of performers – an impressive sight in their colourful16th century costumes – are all set to entertain everyone with a wonderful array of non-stop entertainments. We’ve comedy and drama, food and fashion, music and dance, and lots more  throughout the weekend.  And there’s a real buzz of excitement as we await the start of our programme when Mary of Guise and Mary Queen of Scots arrive up the esplanade in their royal procession just after 11.30am.

To say the castle was a hive of activity yesterday is putting it mildly. It was pretty hectic to say the least as our performers started to arrive with all their equipment, costumes and props.  Our slightly bizarre assortment of deliveries for the day included a cannon, a ship of sugar and a pig’s head!  Worry not through, we’ve plenty of culinary treats for our visitors to eat too.  There’s a fantastic barbeque so you can tuck into roast suckling pig on the French Spur with chutneys, parsnip mash and gravy.  We’ve also Isle of Arran ice cream and Coffee Tuk Tuk.  And our café will be selling special commemorative palace cupcakes – suitably iced in royal purple – made right here in the castle’s bakery.

Needless to say, we’ve lots of fun activities and shows for children, from the madcap antics of our Fool, to swordfighting, and our new hands-on displays where they can create their own colourful jester, have a go at playing historic musical instruments and try on costumes.

So here’s to a great event and a wonderful weekend everyone - and we do hope you’ll come and join us.


Gillian Macdonald, Stirling Castle Executive Manager