In which we visit the castle and the National Gallery
Edinburgh Castle
The castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano
A statue honoring Field Marshall Douglas Haig stands outside National War Museum of Scotland. He was nicknamed “Butcher Haig” not because of enemy casualties, but for the two million British casualties suffered under his command.
The National War Museum of Scotland has fascinating collections of paintings and posters, weapons and uniforms, medals and mess kits, and much else documenting the fierce Scots at war–both against and later for the bloody English.
The minuscule St Margaret Chapel looked charming, but was packed with too many people for comfort. We heard the One o’Clock Gun, by which ships in the Firth of Forth once set their maritime clocks. It is loud. Proceeding on to the Royal Palace, we were rushed through the Stone of Scone and Scottish Crown Jewels exhibit.
The Royal Palace apartments also held a portrait gallery of Scottish royalty with family tree links, which helped me finally make some sense of the Stuart tree.
The Stuarts solved the problem of royal succession in England, when Elizabeth I died without children. Her ministers invited James VI of Scotland, her distant cousin, to become James I of England. He was not a bad king, unlike certain of his descendants, despite his promulgating the notion of the “divine right of kings.” He basically asserted that the king was god on earth and that the people had no rights except by the king’s grace.
Anyway, sorting out the various Charlies and Jameses who follow is very confusing. But important, as we later saw in our visit to the Colluden Battlefield.
Scottish National Gallery
The National Gallery is in sight of the castle. It has an excellent cafe, where we enjoyed a late lunch. I had wanted to visit it, both to see classic Scottish art (see their holdings of Henry Raeburn and Allan Ramsay, among others, and note the iconic Monarch of the Glen and A Hind’s Daughter), but also to view my favorite Gauguin.
Afterward, we visited the Marks and Spencer on Princes Street, where Richard bought a shirt and we picked up dinner salads and drinks from the food hall.