Right Reverend in Preparation mode...

The General Assembly, ministers and elders (formerly known as fathers and brethren) is corporately entitled "The Right Reverend General Assembly."

This picture had to be taken before the photography veto is imposed.

The opening session of the Assembly is full of formality.   A flourish of trumpets as the procession arrives - Heralds, Heads of Armed Forces, the First Minister, and then the Lord High Commissioner, who takes her seat on the Throne.       The Crown Gallery is technically not part of the Assembly Hall - emphasising the division between Church and State.

The Commission is read to the Assembly, in which the Queen commands that "our dearly beloved daughter, Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, Princess Royal, Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Royal Lady of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle" etc, etc, shall be her personal representative at the General Assembly.   


Also interestingly, this week Princess Anne is not known as "Her Royal Highness" but as "Her Grace" - the proper form of address for a Lord High Commissioner.


Anyway, all this in preparation for the instalment of my friend, Derek Browning, as Moderator for 2017/18.     It was good to be there.