Our eagles have found their final roosting place and the unicorns are in their stamping grounds. After a year of astonishing creativity – the team embroidering magnificent coats of arms for the refurbishment of the castle’s royal palace have completed their work. The final stage has been to take the heraldic beasts, crowns and shields they have worked so hard to make and to stitch them to a rich, heavy, claret-coloured velvet backcloth that will hang down the palace walls.

         

The end result is two cloths of estate, emblazoned with the arms of Mary of Guise, James V’s widow who resided in the palace in the 1540s. They will hang in the Queen’s Bedchamber and the Queen’s Inner Hall, two of Mary’s most important apartments. Such cloths were of immense significance in the Renaissance, as by looking at the heraldry you could instantly see someone’s social pedigree and status. Entering a chamber to see a beautiful, fashionable young woman, seated in a grand chair, beneath a cloth of estate bearing symbols such as a royal crown, red lion rampant and the Cross of Jerusalem – all flanked with an eagle and a unicorn – you knew to bow very low indeed.

Professor Malcolm Lochhead, who led the embroidery team, carried out extensive research for the project. This included studying surviving examples to ensure the styles and techniques were as authentic as possible. After that he enlisted Eileen Rumble from near Dundee, Liz Boulton of Cumbernauld and Mary McCarron from South Lanarkshire to make the heraldry. For me it’s been a privilege to see their work progress, as pieces of leather and cloth are snipped and stitched with incredible skill, until they take on new and beautiful forms. We are incredibly fortunate that there are such talented people around, who have such a command of centuries-old crafts. And it’s tremendous that the palace project has provided opportunities for their workmanship to be enjoyed by visitors from all round the world.

Gillian Macdonald, Executive Manager