The Duke of Hamilton, keeper of the Crown of Scotland, escorts it to Edinburgh Castle

What is going on, and where has the crown gone with a stranger? A most curious scene: the 16th Duke of Hamilton, Alexander Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, aged 40, is escorting the Crown of Scotland to Edinburgh Castle. The Hamiltons have been hereditary keepers of the royal crown since the 16th century, as they are of the royal Palace of Holyroodhouse, where Elizabeth holds her traditional Holyrood Week each year. This year she wore the crown at the sitting of the Scottish Parliament marking its 20th anniversary.

The personable Douglas-Hamilton, who presents the crown to Elizabeth II, is already married, to a designer from Edinburgh, and they have three sons. Amusingly, one of the couple's titles, Earl and Countess of Cambridge, is strikingly reminiscent of the titles of another celebrated British pair, William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who also happens to have a commoner for a bride. Among the other entertaining parallels between the two pairs bearing the title “Cambridge”, besides the unennobled origins of the brides, are that both bridegrooms look far better and fresher than their younger brothers, and that the two couples were married less than two weeks apart.