Pipe Major Ian Duncan playing The Atholl Highlanders at Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland in 2021

Pipe Major Ian Duncan of the Atholl Highlanders Pipe Band playing the tune "The Atholl Highlanders" outside Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland on Sunday 4th July 2021. The Atholl Highlanders are a Scottish ceremonial infantry regiment and the only remaining private army in Europe, who act as the personal bodyguard to the Duke of Atholl, Chieftain of the Clan Murray, a family that has thrived in Perthshire for some 750 years. Blair Castle is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl. Pipe Major Ian Duncan is one of the leading figures in the modern pipe band movement, a solo piper of considerable talent and a hugely dedicated and inspirational teacher who has passed on his piping skills to innumerable young pipers. The older son of the great bothy ballad singer and tradition bearer Jock Duncan, Ian has led many bands, especially the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, which under his direction and teaching progressed from small town pipe band to Grade 1 title-winners.