Queen set to return to Scotland for a week of Jubilee celebrations

Royal visit: Her majesty and the Earl and Countess of Strathearn are coming to Scotland.SWNS

The Queen will mark her Diamond Jubilee with a series of engagements during a week in Scotland.

Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, she will attend various events in Glasgow, Greenock and Perth between July 2 and 6.

Her annual Holyrood Week will also see the Duke of Cambridge, who has the Scottish title the Earl of Strathearn, formally installed as a Royal Knight of the Thistle at a service in Edinburgh's St Giles' Cathedral.

The week begins with the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, at which the Queen is handed the keys to the city and welcomed to her "ancient and hereditary kingdom of Scotland" by the Lord Provost. In keeping with tradition, she hands them back, entrusting their safekeeping to the city's elected officials.

Holyrood Week celebrates Scottish culture, history and achievement and includes an investiture and garden party at Holyroodhouse.

The Queen and the Duke will also visit the refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery and His Royal Highness will later attend The Duke of Edinburgh gold awards.

On Wednesday the Queen and the Duke attend a jubilee thanksgiving service at Glasgow Cathedral and will visit George Square, Clydebank and Greenock. They will also visit St Margaret's Hospice, attend a lunch at Our Holy Redeemer Primary School in Clydebank and formally open Greenock Municipal Buildings.

The next day a Thistle Service takes place at St Giles' Cathedral for the Earl of Strathearn’s installation. They will be joined at the service by the Duchess of Cambridge, or Countess of Strathearn as she is known in Scotland, and the Princess Royal.

The ceremony is usually held in the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle within the cathedral. The Earl is following in the footsteps of other senior royals the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, who have all received the same honour.

The Queen decides who should be appointed to the order herself and does not seek the advice of the Prime Minister, like with some honours.

On Friday, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit Perth, awarded city status to mark the jubilee. The Queen will be given the keys to the city and the Duke will receive the freedom of the city.

Later they visit RHQ Black Watch Museum in Balhousie Castle; Perth College; University of the Highlands and Islands; and Scone Palace for lunch.

Since her accession to the throne in 1952, the Queen has visited Edinburgh nearly every year, briefly setting up home for a week at Holyroodhouse. For that week it becomes the main working royal headquarters. The relocation is said to give her the opportunity to visit parts of the UK farthest from London and to honour Scottish achievements.

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