New Queen's chaplain appointed

The Reverend John Chalmers has been appointed as a new chaplain to the Queen in Scotland.

Mr Chalmers, 61, has been in the Church of Scotland's Board of Ministry since 1995 and has been Principal Clerk to the Church of Scotland since 2010.

Prior to that, he served in the parishes of Renton in Dumbartonshire and Palmerston Place, Edinburgh between 1979 and 1995.

Mr Chalmers, from Dunfermline, takes up his new appointment with immediate effect. He joins a team of 10 appointed chaplains and two domestic chaplains, the ministers of Crathie and the Canongate in Edinburgh.

"I am honoured and delighted to take up this role and look forward to working with my fellow chaplains to provide this service to the Queen," said Mr Chalmers.

The Right Reverend Lorna Hood, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and also a Queen's chaplain said: "This is great news. John is a diligent minister of the Church of Scotland whose skills will be of great asset to the Chapel Royal."

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