ROBERT HARDMAN: The King and Queen seemed touched by warm welcome on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile

Presented with crown, sceptre and sword (carried with great poise by a lady in a striking blue outfit), serenaded by a magnificent repertoire of music both sublime and uplifting, the King must have felt a slight sense of deja vu. The rest of us certainly did. Didn’t we just go through all that?

We could not call this a Coronation, however, even if the Scottish government had attempted to do just that. Some of its earlier statements had referred to a ‘Scottish Coronation’ before being swiftly corrected by Buckingham Palace.

This was a service of thanksgiving and dedication. That extraordinary rainy day back in May was the moment when Charles III was crowned monarch of the United Kingdom. He had very definitely not come to St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, to be crowned all over again.

Rather, this was a celebration and recognition of Scotland’s own unique royal heritage and the place of Charles III and Queen Camilla within it. Here too were the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay (as the Prince and Princess of Wales automatically become on Scottish soil). At the centre of it all was the Presentation of the Royal Honours of Scotland in front of a 650-strong congregation spanning all aspects of Scottish public life.

The presence of a small but noisy republican protest over the road, waving ‘Not My King’ flags, was neither a surprise nor a distraction. The King and Queen seemed genuinely touched by an overwhelmingly warm welcome all the way up the Royal Mile.

The King will doubtless also have been cheered by a sermon with plenty of nods to the planet and seasoned with a robust dose of Church of Scotland fire and brimstone – literally. ‘Blessed are we when we understand that our children do not inherit this Earth from us – we have borrowed it from them,’ declared Sally Foster-Fulton, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church Scotland. ‘And it is our duty to return it still singing and surging and bathing, not baking to a crisp.’

The Scottish crown jewels may not be as extensive as that great accumulation of gold and diamonds in the Jewel House of the Tower of London. However, they can still pull rank. The Crown of Scotland is considerably older than either of those Johnny-come-lately crowns which the King wore at Westminster Abbey. It was made for James V in 1540 and used to crown Mary, Queen of Scots.

Ditto, the sceptre. It may not have a rock like the 530-carat Star of Africa in its head but it was a gift from Pope Alexander VI to James IV of Scotland in 1494.

Also present yesterday was the Stone of Destiny, the throne of early Scottish monarchs. It sat in pride of place in the Sanctuary of the cathedral guarded by two police officers and a beady-eyed cohort from the King’s Scottish bodyguard, the Royal Company of Archers. How anyone could expect to pinch a 250lb block of pink sandstone from under the noses of this staunchly royalist crowd beggared belief.

That was a new touch. The Stone was not in the cathedral when the late Queen came to Edinburgh to receive these honours in 1953. This time, however, a devolved Scottish government was in charge and keen to put a modern stamp on things. So, marching ahead of the honours on their journey down from Edinburgh Castle to St Giles’ Cathedral came ‘The Procession of the People of Scotland’.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay while in Scotland, arriving at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh yesterday

This included representatives of traditional organisations like the Girls’ and Boys’ Brigades, the RNLI and the Royal British Legion but also the Robert Burns World Federation, Lothian Buses and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. This may also be the first state occasion to have featured a delegation from Central Taxis, Edinburgh.

Similarly, although the Household Cavalry were here looking the part, the First Minister, Humza Yousaf, and his team had decided against bringing the Royal Family up the Royal Mile in open carriages, as the late Queen had done in 1953. The Household Cavalry would escort cars, instead. Safe but dreary. I understand that the Scottish Office at Westminster had offered to foot any bills for the carriages but the Scottish government stood firm. At least the SNP leadership were embracing the event, realising that this was a global showcase for Scotland.

Avowed republican he might be but Humza Yousaf performed a polished reading of Psalm 19. The day before he had been an enthusiastic shaker of hands at the King’s garden party at Holyroodhouse. His Scottish parliament coalition partners, the Greens, in contrast, decided to boycott yesterday’s proceedings. Their leader, Patrick Harvie, said he would attend an anti-monarchy rally at the other end of the Royal Mile instead.

The King had taken a keen interest in every aspect of this service, just as he had with the order of service at his coronation. Several new pieces had been commissioned at his request, including a delightful Song of Thanksgiving sung in the Aberdeenshire dialect of Doric. The combination of a new orchestra, the Honours of Scotland Ensemble, the Fanfare Trumpeters of the RAF plus the cathedral organ, produced a soaring debut for a processional piece called The Call of Lochnagar (a nod to his children’s book, The Old Man of Lochnagar). Expect to hear that at future royal events.

The Kings Life Guard of the Household Cavalry proceeded down the Royal Mile on the way to the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III and Queen Camilla

Protesters on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh, ahead of the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication for King Charles III and Queen Camilla

The Queen’s appearance at this event in 1953 had not been without controversy. Many old-fashioned Scots were disappointed that she failed to appear in her coronation robes and arrived in day dress with handbag. Perhaps mindful of that faux-pas, the King, the Queen and the Duke of Rothesay were all in the green robes and regalia of the Order of the Thistle. The Duchess of Rothesay, who has yet to be appointed a Lady of the Thistle, wore a Catherine Walker ensemble plus Philip Treacy hat and a necklace from the collection of the late Queen.

Back in 1953, there had also been a great panic at the Palace after the Dean of St Giles’ insisted that the Queen should hold the Sceptre of Scotland when presented with it. The matter went all the way to Downing Street and then to the Lord Chancellor who warned that any royal grasp of the sceptre would be ‘implying that Her Majesty recognised Scotland as a separate Kingdom’. She was instructed merely to touch it.

The King did the same yesterday, gently tapping his treasures rather than wearing them.

Dame Katherine Grainger carries the Elizabeth Sword to a national service of thanksgiving and dedication to the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt, carrying the Sword of State, in the procession through Westminster Abbey ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

The most spectacular piece of regalia was the newest. Because the original of State is deemed too fragile to leave Edinburgh Castle, a huge new Elizabeth Sword has been added to the crown jewels of Scotland. It also weighs 16lb, twice the weight of its Westminster counterpart.

At the coronation, the main sword was carried by the Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt. She became an unexpected star of the show, both for her blue cape dress and her capacity to stand for two hours without flinching.

Not to be outdone, Scotland had invited Dame Katherine Grainger to undertake the same role, dressed in a similarly elegant blue dress, coat and hat. She was a wise choice. As well as being Chancellor of Glasgow University, Dame Katherine is a former Olympic gold and silver medal-winning oarswoman.

‘I didn’t really have much time to train for this but I had 20 years of training to fall back on,’ she explained afterwards. ‘It does weigh a lot but it’s actually very well-balanced.’