As senior members of the Royal Family take on engagements for Holyrood Week, those who have passed away were still very much at the forefront of Royal Family members’ minds.
It’s been a little over a year since Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, died in April 2021. During Holyrood Week, his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, followed in his father’s footsteps and became patron of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
The Duke served as patron for 66 years and was the first patron back in 1954. The Duke accepted an honourary fellowship from the RCSEd a year later. Philip visited on several occasions during his life, including in 2006, when he opened the Quincentenary Building. In 2015, he visited to open the newly renovated Surgeons’ Hall Museums and the Prince Philip Building.
Professor Michael Griffin, President of the RCSEd, said of Charles’s new patronage: “It is a privilege to welcome HRH The Duke of Rothesay as Patron of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
“The Duke of Edinburgh played a very significant part in the College’s history during His Royal Highness’ 66 years as Patron, which we recognised in 2015 by constructing the Prince Philip Building...We very much look forward to working with The Duke of Rothesay.”
The RCSEd is known to be one of the oldest surgical corporations in the world and has a global membership of nearly 30,000. That number includes its 15,000 members in the UK.
As the Prince of Wales took on a new patronage, Philip’s daughter-in-law, the Countess of Wessex also paid tribute to the late Duke.
The Countess visited the Riccarton Service at Capability Scotland where she planted a rose in the Duke’s honour. The organisation works to provide care for those with disabilities. The Duke was also a patron of this charity for 60 years.
