This undated postcard, published by Valentine’s of Dundee, was painted by Conrad Leigh, depicting the Pipes and Drums of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders performing at the Palace of Holyroodhouse at some time after World War Two. The period covered by this painting is of special significance to the Regiment because the pipers are wearing Royal Stuart tartan instead of the tartan of Cameron of Erracht.
The Royal Stuart tartan has come to be considered as the tartan of the Royal family, and the Sovereign has occasionally granted its use to a Scottish regiment as a personal honour. King George VI honoured The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in this way when, in 1943, he ordered that the pipers of the Camerons should be dressed in Royal Stuart tartan, to mark the 150th anniversary of the raising of the 79th. The Royal Stuart tartan was discontinued in 1961 when, on the formation of the Queen’s Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons), the pipers reverted to the tartan of Cameron of Erracht.
