A series of leisure flights over Loch Leven are to celebrate Kinross-shire’s links to Scotland’s most tragic monarch.
Visitors to the area will be able to get a bird’s eye view of the places which played a crucial role in the life of the 16th century queen.
Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle for almost a year, until her escape on May 2 1568. There she miscarried twins and, just days later, was forced to renounce her throne in favour of her infant son James VI.
The flights, which will be run by the Balado Micro-Light Academy, are part of a larger bid to capitalise on the area’s links to the queen, and the first flights will run alongside the Mary Queen of Scots Festival this weekend.
The idea was suggested to Academy owner Keith Edwards by Graham Hadley, of Mary Queen of Scots Enterprises.
He said: “I went out on a flight and it’s quite fun – you can zip up for a 45 minute flight over the whole area where Mary Queen of Scots used to ride and hunt and hawk.
“It’s an amazing experience to to dive down low over Loch Leven Castle, then you can go over the Lomond hills where there are lots of thermals and swoop down on Falkland Place, which was a favourite of King James and was also visited by Mary Queen of Scots.
“I gave him a nudge – I said to him that it could be another string to his bow, as well as promoting the Mary Queen of Scots links.”
Graham has previously “trademarked” the queen by designing a coin-style image of the queen, which bears the words Maria Regina Scotia – Mary Queen of Scots. It has already been placed in on products ranging from whisky to shortbread.
The first product in the line-up was a blended whisky, made from 12 malts, each of 12 year old to reflect the 12 years in total that Mary Queen of Scots spent in Scotland.
Fudge made with the whisky was recently awarded double star status in the Great Taste of Britain Annual Awards and will be available for the first time at the Mary Queen of Scots Festival on September 2 and 3.
Festival organisers are hoping that this year’s event will draw record crowds.
Linking in with Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology 2017, the festival will feature a live jousting event and a recreation of Queen Mary’s court.
Thomas Moffat, of Visit Dunfermline, said the key to the festival is celebrating the past, supporting the present, and building for the future.
He says: “Drawing attention to, and celebrating our famous historical figures provides terrific opportunities for the local towns they are associated with. Locals and tourists are attracted by the history and pageantry of the occasion.
“However, as organisers, we need to think about how any festival impacts on our local communities, and what we can do to build business for local traders, artisans, and entertainers.
“By supporting them, we create sustainable successful events, and that is what we’re trying to do in Kinross.”
