Podcast 34 – William joins the Queen to start Royal Week in Scotland & learns about IRN-BRU

On day one of this year’s Royal Week or Holyrood Week in Scotland, Prince William, no doubt on his best behaviour,  accompanied the Queen to a couple of engagements.

First up was a visit to open new production facilities in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, at soft drinks manufacturer A.G. Barr of Glasgow, or Barr’s as it is commonly known, who make the iconic Scottish carbonated soft drink, IRN-BRU, often described as " Scotland 's other national drink" (after Scotch whisky) a product that was launched way back in 1901.

Barr’s Iron Brew as well as other popular products including ‘Wee Macgregor Brew’, ‘Japanese Plum’ and ‘Raspberry Cider’ were brewed by fermentation but cut at the point where the resultant drink was below the maximum alcohol level for sale as a non-alcoholic beverage. In the old days this was 1.1% alcohol, these days it has been reduced to 0.5%.

In was in 1947 that Iron Brew was remarketed brought about by a predicted change to food labelling regulations. The proposed regulations stipulated that brand names should be ‘literally true’. Barr’s Iron Brew did contain iron but it was not brewed. As it turned out the regulations were modified but by then the company had gone ahead with their plans to change the name and in 1947 launched the phonetic respelling of the brand as IRN-BRU, the label it still has today.

Prince William was shown tasting the original recipe, drinking it from a rather exquisite crystal glass, as opposed to the bright orange and blue can or the plastic bottle that the drink is typically served in. 

When you look at the photos of the Queen and William touring the factory you will notice a man wearing a kilt made from particularly bright tartan.  This is no fake tartan. In 1997 the IRN-BRU tartan received its certificate of accreditation from the Council of the Scottish Tartans Society. The tartan incorporates the IRN-BRU orange and IRN-BRU blue colours.

Next of the day’s agenda saw William, who goes by the title the Earl of Strathearn when in Scotland, watching on as the Queen took part at the Ceremony of the Keys, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Ceremony always takes places at the start of the British Monarch's week-long residence there in July.  The ceremony involves the Queen or King being symbolically offered the keys to the city of Edinburgh by the Lord Provost a position similar to that of a Lord Mayor.   The monarch immediately returns the keys, saying: I return these keys, being perfectly convinced that they cannot be placed in better hands than those of the Lord Provost and Councillors of my good City of Edinburgh.

After the ceremony the Queen and Prince William met local volunteers and first responders to thank them for their efforts during the pandemic

This was the Queen’s first trip to Scotland since the passing of Prince Phillip, Scotland being a place where they both spent a great deal of their down time. I am sure she was pleased to have the company of William on her first day of Royal Week.

Keep listening in for future podcasts about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and you can reach me by email at [email protected]