King calls for debate with ‘respect’ at opening of Scottish Parliament session

The King told the Scottish Parliament to protect “Scotland’s extraordinary natural environment” as he and the Queen attended the opening of its new session on Saturday.

Charles also encouraged debate to be “carried out with respect and courtesy” as he gave a speech to mark the beginning of Holyrood’s seventh session since it was established in 1999.

Following the ceremony, the King and Queen met local heroes nominated by MSPs for their “extraordinary contribution” to communities.

In his address, the King told Holyrood: “It gives me the greatest pleasure to join you once again for the opening of a new session of the Scottish Parliament.

“I make no apology for referring – again – to the incredible importance of protecting Scotland’s precious natural capital.

“It has long been my most fundamental belief that the natural world and human communities are not competing interests, but deeply interwoven ones; that there is an essential harmony between the health of our planet, the natural systems on which we depend and the health of the people that live upon the Earth.”

The King added: “In a global situation of rapid and seemingly accelerating challenge, there will, inevitably, be some aims which can be attained, and others, even with the best efforts, which will remain ambitions only.

“But while the outcome might not always be yours to deliver, the manner in which it is pursued lies always within your power.

“With that in mind, and in the knowledge that you are custodians of the democratic traditions long nurtured in these islands – traditions of which the honours of Scotland set before us are a powerful reminder – let us continue to show by example that debate can be carried out with respect and courtesy, that disagreement is possible while honouring one another’s dignity, and it is recognised – whatever views may exist as to the means – that all those engaged in public service are seeking the same end – the good of the society we serve.”

In response, First Minister John Swinney said that with “uncertainty fuelling deep, personal anxiety, powerful forces bent on division, new politics is, for us, the basis for a renewed hope”.

He added: “The question today is will we, collectively, live out the new culture of politics that was part of the founding promise, indeed the founding spirit of this place?”

Swinney’s speech was followed by a reading from Scotland’s makar Pàdraig MacAoidh, who delivered a poem in Gaelic called Let This Hall Be Full Of Noises.

Harpist Rachel Groves and vocalist Ellie Beaton performed Robert Burns’s Ae Fond Kiss.

To close the meeting, the Parliament’s piper, MSP Stuart McMillan, performed Bonnie Dundee and a Hundred Pipers in the members’ garden as the King and Queen departed.