Dress

The pipers and drummers of the Royal Scots Association Pipe Band wear cap badges and accoutrements of the Royal Scots and kilts of Hunting Stewart in honour of the the 9th (Highlanders) battalion of the Royal Scots, who fought with distinction during both World Wars.

The 9th Battalion was a Territorial battalion that was composed mainly of “professional gentlemen” of Edinburgh, i.e. doctors, stockbrokers, accountants, lawyers etc, who had come to the capital from the highlands to work.

Being men of means, they paid for their own uniforms and refused to go to war in the Royal Scots’ traditional lowland trews, which earned them the nickname “the Dandy Ninth” from other envious Scottish battalions they served alongside.

Even after the pipers of the regiment were granted the honour of wearing the Sovereign’s personal tartan, Royal Stewart, by King George V in 1933 to mark the regiment’s 300th anniversary, the pipes and drums of the Dandy Ninth continued to wear their prized Hunting Stewart kilts.

The band has a number of different forms of dress it can wear as required for different engagements –

Daywear

Drum Major in Daywear

Argyll jacket and Royal Scots regimental tie, worn with waistcoat,black leather day sporran, cream hose and plain blue glengarry

Dress Uniform

Drum Major in dress uniform

Ceremonial dress based on Scottish regiments’ Blue Patrol dress, a high collared blue tunic, worn with horse hair dress sporran, Hunting Stewart hose and a blackcock feather in the glengarry

Shirt Sleeve Order

Drum Major in shirt sleeve order

Dress for clement weather and warmer climates, which includes a pale blue short sleeved shirt and can be worn as day wear or in ceremonial form