King Charles starts his day listening to bagpipes.
Every morning at 9am, under the windows of the 73-year-old British monarch, the Lonely Piper plays a selection of tunes for 15 minutes, anywhere in the royal residence.
When the King awoke in his residence on Tuesday (25.10.22), His Majesty’s Pipe Major Paul Burns performed for the first time in the gardens of Clarence House.
A video of the pipe blowing was shared on the royal family’s official Twitter account, accompanied by the caption: ‘Her Majesty’s Pipe Major played for the first time in the gardens of Clarence Manor this morning as the King woke up in his mansion.
“The position was created by Queen Victoria in 1843 and Queen Elizabeth enjoyed a special tradition after her accession to the throne in 1952.”
When Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, lived at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Palace of Holyroodhouse or Balmoral, Piper played bagpipes for 15 minutes at 9am.
Since Queen Elizabeth’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, established the position in 1843, there have been 17 pipemakers to date.
Piper’s morning performance is split into two seven-minute sessions, with one minute separating the two segments to tune and tune traditional Scottish instruments.
As part of his role, Major Pipe is the only non-Royal member allowed to wear the Balmoral Tartan, and other responsibilities include:
Meet and greet people on official business before they are presented to the monarch.
As part of that role, Piper is a member of the royal family, maintaining lodgings at Buckingham Palace in London while traveling wherever the monarch is based at a given time.
Major Piper Paul Burns commemorated the moment Queen Elizabeth’s coffin left Westminster Abbey for its final journey to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after the state funeral on September 19th. I played the lament “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep”. rested.
