Queen Elizabeth II: Kelpies were given nod of approval from Her Majesty

Accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, the royal visitors were in the Falkirk area to officially open a new section of the Forth & Clyde Canal.

The Queen Elizabeth II Canal forms the eastern gateway and finally linked Grangemouth and the River Carron in the east to Bowling in Dunbartonshire in the west.

After arriving by helicopter, the royal pair travelled from the sealock along the canal on the Wooden Spoon Seagull, a boat from the Seagull Trust charity’s fleet.

When the boat berthed at the Kelpies Pool, the Queen and Duke met Depute Provost Ann Ritchie and others in the welcoming party.

They were then introduced to Kelpies sculptor Andy Scott by Andrew Thin, chairman of Scottish Canals.

After speaking about his work, Mr Scott introduced horses, Spencer and Harry, representing the Clydesdales. The Kelpies were modelled on.

The royal couple were then invited inside the ‘head down’ Kelpie to view the complexity and engineering work involved in their construction.

After making the short journey to the Helix visitors centre, the Queen and Duke met more staff and volunteers, before The Queen was presented with a posy of flowers and a gift by four-year-old twins Luke and Sam Mitchell, and a small sculpture by Taylor Brown,13.

The Scottish Canals chairman said: “More than 15 years ago, Her Majesty joined us to celebrate the reopening of Scotland’s canals as part of the Millennium Link. Today was a fitting way to mark the completion of that project and the ongoing renaissance of our nation’s incredible waterways.”

Councillor Ann Ritchie, who was part of the welcoming part as then Provost Tom Coleman was on holiday, said this week: “I was very saddened to learn of the death of Her Majesty the Queen. When I met Queen Elizabeth ll at the Kelpies in 2017 it was one of the my first duties as Depute Provost. I was very nervous, but she put me at ease very quickly and told me she was happy to come and see the Kelpies.

HM The Queen was a lovely lady, someone we could all look up too, and she will be sadly missed by so many people.”