September 13, 2022

MacDONALD CLAN MOURNS MONARCH’S DEPARTURE FROM HIGHLANDS ‘HOME AWAY FROM HOME’

GRAVENHURST — The Queen and I have a soft spot for Scotland.

As she left her Highlands “home away from home” for the last time today it reminded me of my roots.

Like many Canadian immigrants there were thousands of Scots who helped build Canada before and after Confederation in 1867.

Among them my mother’s side of the family who were from the MacDonald clan and today mourn her passing.

I was reminded of that this afternoon as I watched her coffin fly off the tarmac in Edinburgh surrounded by tartan.

Many in the military guards wore the traditional Glengarry cap.

Like the one hung over my should on my living room wall next to a photo of my mother, Maisie MacDonald Clairmont, wearing it in a photo at a youthful age — her right leg cutely tucked under her left.

It’s a cherished family image and a reminder of my family’s mixed French ancestry.

So it was fitting that as the pipes swirled, I pulled out my horn and played along TV virtually with the ceremonial band one of many more versions this week of God Save the Queen — even it was at a painfully slow dirge tempo.

Now it’s home sweet home for the Queen tonight at Buckingham Palace, where I once visited as a young tourist.

I don’t think she was home there when I dropped by for tea.

Her flag wasn’t flying; she may have been at Balmoral.

I guess I should have journeyed farther north to my own Highlands home.

Maybe next time I’ll research the MacDonald tartan and wear my family kilt.