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A legen-dairy weekend! The Royal Highland Show celebrates the best of Scottish farming

Royal Highland Show Sunday

The Royal Highland Show 2025 was a spectacular celebration of Scotland’s agricultural heritage, innovation, food, drink and rural life.

With a sold-out Show on Saturday, this year’s event welcomed over 212,000 visitors from across the UK and beyond for four packed days of livestock competitions, cutting-edge farming innovation, family entertainment and traditional skills.

The Royal Highland Show which takes place at Ingliston, Edinburgh, is the biggest fundraising event for organisers, RHASS, (the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland) with the week of the Show seeing the event site become the sixth-largest population centre in Scotland, bigger than Paisley and Dunfermline.

With 197 hectares of entertainment (the equivalent of 180 football pitches!) there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Children 15 and under were able to attend the Show for free and over 22,000 children attended over the four days. 

The energy didn’t stop there, over 7,400 people partied into the night on Friday and Saturday evening at the Royal Highland Hoolie, where an electric line-up of  country and folk stars including Elephant Sessions, Cammy Barnes, NATI and Nathan Carter had the crowd singing, dancing and celebrating in true Royal Highland Show style.

HRH Princess Anne visited the Show on Friday. Escorted by RHASS Chairman, James Logan, and Chief Executive, Alex Paterson.

HRH enjoyed a tour of the Show and stopped at the RHET Discovery Centre, where she met local primary school children taking part in activities such as pizza making and sushi rolling.

HRH also took in the excitement of the showjumping competition and toured the Cattle Hall, meeting the Short Horn Beef Cattle and Highland Cattle as well as visiting some exhibitors in the Dairy section.

Royal Highland Show Sunday

David Tennant, Head of Show for RHASS said: “It has been wonderful to see generations from across the agricultural community come together to celebrate their great achievements, learnings, stories and make new memories, just as it has been to see visitors and families enjoy all that the Show has to offer.

“We were very honoured to have welcomed HRH Princess Anne to Friday’s Show when we shared with her all of the great achievements from the Scottish agricultural industry.

“While the Show is renowned for its historic and traditional aspects, namely the livestock competitions and parades, over the years we have developed it so far beyond that, and every year we build and grow on the last.. 

“I’d like to thank everyone for playing their part, from our members, exhibitors and competitors to our staff and members of the public, for helping to make the 2025 Royal Highland Show a truly unforgettable event!”

Judith Cruickshank, chair, Scotland Board, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “This year’s Royal Highland Show has showcased the value and the success of Scottish agriculture to the economy and the importance of the event to the industry.

“The volume of visitors over the last four days shows the affection the public has for the event, and Royal Bank of Scotland is delighted to have been partner for 2025.  

“We will continue to remain partner for the next three years, making it part of our 300th anniversary celebrations and the longest successive partnership in our history.”

Royal Highland Show, Friday

Matt Evans, Chief Commercial Officer (UK) at See Tickets, said: “The Royal Highland Show is an incredible event, at the forefront of the agricultural industry. The largest in Scotland, bringing the farming community and family audiences together. 

“This year’s show further built on the success of previous years, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for the RHASS.

“I am immensely proud that the Royal Highland Show team put their trust in See Tickets to deliver our services to their audience, and we look forward to partnering with them going forward.”

The 2025 Royal Highland Show – facts and numbers:

  • 327 prestigious trophies and a prize fund of £195,000 were competed for and awarded at this year’s Show.
  • The Queen’s Cup, which was presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1960 to commemorate her presidency of the Royal Highland Show was, this year, awarded to champion goat, Messrs Webster and Smith with Guilden Elm. This is the 15th time in 45 years the pair have won the Queen’s Cup. The cup rotates annually among different livestock categories.
  • The Sanderson Trophy was won by Harry and Susan Sleigh, for the third time, which is a major mark of excellence in Scotland’s equine community.
  • Over 6,000 livestock were welcomed, including 700 cattle, 2,000 sheep, 400 heavy horses, 1,700 light horse entries, from 2,500 competitors.
  • Over 750 exhibitors, stretching across food, drink, clothing, artisanal crafts and agri-trade were in attendance.
  • The Sir William Young Award, which recognises exceptional contributions to the world of livestock breeding and celebrates the enduring legacy of the late Sir William Young, was presented to Jimmy Taylor Wilson.
  • Over 200 volunteer stewards were involved in the RHS, as well as 145 judges.
  • Some 6,600 school pupils from 250 school groups came along for free through RHET (Royal Highland Education Trust), trying their hand at milking Mabel the (fiberglass) cow, a wildlife gardening trail and pizza making in the RHET Discovery Centre.
  • Over 56,000 pints were poured over the four days, with 24,496 of those pints served up by the Show’s beer partner, Innis & Gunn.
  • The Show featured the “Guiness Ripple Machine” which helped to served-up thousands of pints topped with Royal Highland Show logo by using 3D printing technology to create what’s known as a ‘Stoutie’.
  • The classic burger was the most popular dish served up across the four-day event with 5,459 sold and visitors kept cool with ice cream with 8,634 sold.
  • 7,462 revellers enjoyed the toe-tapping Royal Highland Hoolie after the Show on Friday and Saturday. Presented by legendary country music promoters, Farmers Bash, the event brought together 12 live folk and country music acts, including Mànran, Trail West, The Whistlin’ Donkeys, Nathan Carter, Cammy Barnes, The Tumbling Paddies, Nati, and the Elephant Sessions.
  • Lothian Buses operated over 1,300 departures to and from the Royal Highland Show on service 97, 98 and N98. This year’s Show’s new elements: 
Royal Highland Show, Grand Parade

This year’s Show’s new elements:

  • On Sunday the Members Village transformed into an entertainment zone with performers from the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Magic from Edinburgh Magician Eliot Bobby, and live music.
  • Sheepdog trials took place in the main ring.
  • Well-known children’s show, Tractor Ted appeared at the Show for the first time, 
  • Children jumped behind the wheel of a mini (Land) rover as part of the Show’s Land Rover Experience which has been a staple at the event for many years. The mini cars took drivers on their very own off-road adventure course, just like the grown-up version.
  • A World Record was set by Dan Wheelan from Shropshire who climbed the 80ft pole in 9 seconds, beating the previous record of 9.61.
Royal Highland Show Sunday

The Royal Bank of Scotland has been a supporter of the Show since 1981 and has reaffirmed its commitment to its longest-standing corporate partnership, and to the Show by extending its agreement for a further three years.

Super early-bird tickets for the 2026 Show are now on-sale. You can buy tickets here: https://www.royalhighlandshow.org

The Early Bird Trade Stand Offer has launched at the Show, with more than 50 already signing up.

The offer gives those who exhibited at this year’s Royal Highland Show a discount for 2026. Interested exhibitors should contact tradestands@rhass.org.uk to find out more.

COP26: Johnson’s Last Words

Good afternoon everybody and apologies for interrupting your Sunday afternoon, but I wanted to say a few words about the truly historic achievement that was secured in Glasgow last night.

I’m very, very pleased to be joined by Alok Sharma, my friend the President of COP.

For two weeks at COP26 politicians and negotiators and campaigners from around the world have been locked in talks about how we’re going to keep our planet habitable for future generations by getting real about climate change.

It was the biggest political gathering of any kind ever held in this country.

And there was a reason for that.

All these world leaders came to Glasgow because their populations are telling them they need to act.

We’ve heard about the peril we face if we fail.

We’ve heard from the individuals who are already living with the effects.

And yesterday evening we finally came to the kind of game-changing agreement the world needed to see.

Almost 200 countries have put their name to the Glasgow Climate Pact, marking a decisive shift in the world’s approach to tackling carbon emissions, setting a clear roadmap to limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees and marking the beginning of the end for coal power.

Because for the first time ever a UN climate change conference has delivered a mandate to cut the use of coal for power generation.

And it’s backed up by real action from individual countries – for example we’ve arranged a multi-billion pound partnership to help South Africa ditch coal and create new green jobs instead.

On top of that we’ve brokered a deal with the G20 to end international finance for coal by the end of next month.

We’ve persuaded most of Western Europe and North America to mirror the commitment I made last December by pulling the plug on financial support for all overseas fossil fuel projects by this time next year.

And when you add all that together it is beyond question that Glasgow sounded the death-knell for coal power.

It’s a fantastic achievement and it’s just one of many to emerge from COP26.

90 per cent of the world’s economy is now following our lead here in the UK by committing to net zero, ending their contribution to climate change altogether.

Don’t forget when Alok Sharma took up the COP reins it wasn’t even a third who committed to net zero.

The developed world is finally going to hit the $100 billion climate finance target – albeit a bit later than we all would have liked.

Over 130 countries have signed up to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 – between them they’re home to more than 90 per cent of the world’s forests.

We’ve got trillions of pounds of private sector assets lined up with climate goals. 

We’ve even managed to do something that has eluded the world for six years by finalising the Paris Rulebook, allowing us to move from interminable debates about how to measure emissions and instead get on with cutting them.

Of course my delight at this progress is tinged with disappointment.

Those for whom climate change is already a matter of life and death – who can only stand by as their islands are submerged, their farmland turned to desert, their homes battered by storms – they demanded a high level of ambition for this summit.

And while many of us were willing to go there, that wasn’t true of everyone.

Sadly that’s the nature of diplomacy.

We can lobby, we can cajole, we can encourage but we cannot force sovereign nations to do what they do not wish to do.

It is ultimately their decision to make, and they must stand by it.

But for all that we can be immensely proud of what has been achieved by Alok Sharma and his team.

I want to take this opportunity to thank him for his many months of tireless diplomacy, and thank everyone involved in making COP26 a success – from the bobble-hatted volunteers to Peter Hill and his team in the COP Unit.

I know it’s tempting to be cynical.

To dismiss these types of such summits as a series of talking shops.

But we came to COP with a call for real action on coal, cars, cash and trees and that’s exactly what we’ve got.

And just look at what it all means for our planet.

Before Paris, the world was on course for a devastating four degrees of warming this century.

After Paris, we were heading for three degrees.

At Glasgow we’ve turned that dial down to around two degrees.

That’s still far too high.

But for all our disagreements the world is undeniably heading in the right direction.

Even the most pessimistic commentator will tell you that that goal of restricting the growth of temperatures to 1.5 is still alive.

Now the work continues to make it a reality.

Alok is going to keep pushing, along with everyone else in the UK Government to strengthen the promises made in Glasgow and make sure they’re delivered rather than diluted.

The UK Government will get on with our extraordinary record of decarbonisation, get on with delivering our green industrial revolution and exporting that revolution worldwide.

There’s still a long journey ahead of us and very little time to complete it.

But COP26 has shown us that we can do this.

We can end our reliance on coal and fossil fuels.

We can put the brakes on runaway climate change.

And we can preserve our unique planet for generations to come.

I want to finish by thanking once again the people of Glasgow for providing a spectacular summit, and of course, I want to thank Police Scotland as well for everything they do.