John Swinney and Gordon Brown at Alex Salmond memorial service
First Minister John Swinney and former prime minister Gordon Brown are at the service at St Giles’ Cathedral in the Scottish capital.
Political leaders are among those who have gathered in Edinburgh to pay tribute to former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond.
First Minister John Swinney and former prime minister Gordon Brown joined the service at St Giles’ Cathedral, with deputy first minister Kate Forbes and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Mr Swinney was booed as he arrived, with at least one person in the crowd outside on the Royal Mile shouting he was a “traitor”.
The memorial is being led by Reverend George Whyte. Mr Salmond’s lifelong friend and Alba Party acting leader Kenny MacAskill is expected to speak.
Mr Salmond, the former leader of the Scottish National Party and Alba Party, died last month in North Macedonia at the age of 69.
He was elected MP for Banff and Buchan in 1987 and first became SNP leader in 1990.
With the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, he became leader of the opposition at Holyrood while retaining his seat at Westminster.
He stood down as SNP leader in 2000 and left the Scottish Parliament in 2001, but returned as leader in 2004 and guided the SNP to a narrow Scottish election win in 2007, becoming the first SNP first minister.
Mr Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron on October 15 2012, setting out the terms of the Scottish independence referendum held in 2014.
Despite losing the referendum and subsequently quitting as first minister, Mr Salmond continued in politics with the SNP.
He stood for the upstart Alba Party at the 2021 Holyrood election after a rift with his successor Nicola Sturgeon and he left the SNP for good.
Mr Salmond was at a conference in North Macedonia when he suffered a heart attack. His body was repatriated with the help of businessman Sir Tom Hunter.
He was buried in a private family ceremony near his home in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, on October 29.
