As the doors of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh closed at 11am, you could hear a pin drop inside its historic walls.
Around 500 invited guests gathered on Saturday to remember the life of Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond, after his sudden death at the age of 69.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, First Minister John Swinney, and figures from across politics, business and entertainment had all taken their seats.
But Mr Salmond’s successor Nicola Sturgeon, who she once described as her mentor, was not present. The pair had a spectacular fall out and the rift never healed.
Mr Swinney was met by a chorus of boos as he arrived outside the service, showing tensions remain within the independence movement.
The splendour of the 900-year-old church added to the sense of occasion, as the cathedral’s choir took to their feet to perform God Be In My Head.
There was a reading in Gaelic by Josh Robertson, a young independence activist. Close friends, Tory MP David Davis and SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, also gave readings.
Some of the most moving movements of the one hour ceremony came during the musical performances, which all encapsulated Mr Salmond’s love of Scotland.
There was time to quietly reflect when Alasdair Fraser on the fiddle and Natalie Haas on the cello performed Theme for Scotland and The Referendum.
The personal and the political were weaved together throughout the ceremony.
Mr Salmond’s niece Christina Hendry recalled memories of her “Uncle Alex”, including visiting the Turriff Show with her uncle and her sister where “he was the one asking us to go on the rides with him”.
Perthshire-based singer and songwriter Dougie MacLean followed with a performance of his 1978 song Caledonia and its yearning for home.
Long-time friend and Acting Alba leader Kenny MacAskill told the congregation – which included Mr Salmond’s widow Moira – that Mr Salmond had been a “giant of a man”.
Mr MacAskill, a former SNP minister who quit the party to join Alba, said the cause of independence was Mr Salmond’s “guiding light, his north star”.
Sapphire fishing disaster off coast of Peterhead remembered
Duncan Hamilton KC, who served as a political adviser and legal counsel to Mr Salmond, said he was “proud to be a fishing MP and fiercely loyal to those he represented in his beloved north-east”.
He recalled an interview Mr Salmond gave in 2017 in which he said he wanted to be remembered for his campaign to recover the bodies of the crew members of the Sapphire fishing vessel, which sank off the coast of Peterhead on October 1, 1997.
Mr Hamilton told the congregation: “He said this: If I go to the Pearly Gates and my maker says, what did you ever do with your life as an MP and all the rest of it? I might well say, I helped raise the Sapphire.”
He added: “Some of those families are here today. The point is this – he understood that politics is about people – and that at its core it is about community.”
He added: “Alex Salmond will forever be a pivotal figure in Scotland’s story. He changed a nation. He inspired a country.”
Scottish band The Proclaimers got feet tapping across the cathedral for their performance of Cap in Hand – a pro-independence song which features the line: “I can’t understand why we let someone else rule our land, cap in hand.”
Brothers Craig and Charlie Reid said: “We’re going to do this for Alex, with love and respect and eternal gratitude for everything you did for our country.”
Led by piper Hamish Moore, the congregation poured out into the square outside St Giles, which was lined with hundreds of people paying their respects.
Chants of “Alex, Alex, Alex” and the “the dream shall never die” rang out across the square.
Geoff Aberdein, former chief of staff to Mr Salmond, said the memorial was a “hugely fitting” tribute.
Asked how his former boss will be remembered, he said: “He transformed Scotland. He pushed Scotland almost to the brink of independence and in his resignation speech, he said the dream of independence shall not die.
“It’s now for others to ensure it stays alive.”
Conversation