King and Queen visit Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels

The King and Queen have viewed the Great Tapestry of Scotland, including a new panel commemorating the Coronation.

They toured the visitor centre in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders to mark 10 years since the tapestry first went on public display.

Its 160 panels charts 420 million years of Scotland's history, heritage, innovations and culture.

The visit comes after the King was presented with the Honours of Scotland in a day of pageantry in Edinburgh.

Both republican and royalist protesters also gathered along the Royal Mile during the celebrations.

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The royal couple were greeted by well-wishers waving Union Jack flags as they arrived at the visitor centre on Thursday morning.

The King was greeted by crowds who lined the streets in Galashiels

The tapestry was hand-stitched by 1,000 stitchers from communities across Scotland and took more than two years to complete.

It is more than 140m (450ft) long and was exhibited, in part or whole, throughout Scotland before it was given a permanent home in Galashiels.

Events featured in the panels include the Battle of Bannockburn, the foundation of the University of St Andrews, the Highland and Lowland clearances and the Clydebank Blitz.

The King and Queen viewed a new panel commemorating their visit and the Coronation - which features references to the King's interest in fishing, and an image of the Old Man of Lochnagar, from the children's book that he wrote.

The tapestry charts 420 million years of Scotland's Heritage

Queen Camilla, who is patron of the Royal School of Needlework, was invited to complete the new panel's final stitches.

Dorie Wilkie, stitch co-ordinator for the tapestry project, showed her which part of the panel to sew.

She said: "The Queen said she is the worst at sewing in the world but she did very well. Afterwards she was joking with the King saying 'I've done some sewing on the panel'.

"It was lovely to meet them and show them the work of the stitchers who contributed."

Queen Camilla adds the final stitches on a new panel for the tapestry

The couple also met with Alexander McCall Smith, who thought of the idea of the tapestry, artist Andrew Crummy who designed it and Alistair Moffat, a historian who decided which episodes in Scottish history would feature in it.

McCall Smith said: "We spoke about the tapestry. I think they are both very interested in the artistic side of it and the historical side and my impression is that they were very interested in it.

"He comes across as a very kind man and a very sensitive man, so I think we are pretty lucky to have a head of state who is interested in this kind of thing.

"The tapestry is a living thing, there are some works of art that are static but this is the opposite of that, it really has an ongoing life."

Charles and Camilla also visited the Lochcarron of Scotland weaving mill in Selkirk for a private tour.

Hundreds turned out for the royal visit and the King praised the work of a yarn bomber who had decorated a post box with a crocheted crown.

The couple also watched a performance of casting of the colours, which originates from the Selkirk Common Riding, with music from the Selkirk Silver Band.

More than 400 riders take part in the Selkirk Common Riding, a celebration of the history and traditions of the Royal and Ancient Burgh.