FITTINGLY, the death of HM The Queen has brought a myriad of stories to light – we knew they ere there, but this tragic event has brought them to the surface.

None more so than comments about her famous sense of humour, of her unstinting support for the farming and horse racing industry, plus being in a position where she barely put a foot wrong in 70 years of service to this country at all levels of Government, including in the Scottish Parliament. That is some feat.

But one of the more poignant comments was from a tearful visitor to her resting place at St Giles Cathedral, in Edinburgh, where it was said: 'She's just like my granny, in fact she's the nation's granny!'

That is doubly fitting given her sometimes tenacious defence of her own family, always doing the right thing at the right moment to support them through sometimes difficult scenarios. It is hard to think that one person could be a statesperson, a regal Queen and still find time for her family – but she did it all in perfect order.

Within this issue, we carry some exclusive photographs taken by our own photographers and others over many years (on pages 12 and 13). Her visits to the Royal Highland Show were legendary and she had a word for everybody, especially the stockmen and women of her 'special' breeds, the Highland ponies and her fold of Highland cows, both of which played a huge role in her knowledge of farming.

That is an area covered by our News feature pages on pages 6 and 7 and these comments have come from across a broad spectrum of the industry.

It was entirely fitting that she had her last hours at her beloved Balmoral Castle Estate ... her 'happy place' as she was wont to call it. There is a deep sense of loss there and in the locale of Ballater, where HM often arrived at local shops unannounced. It must have been nice for her to do so without the folderol of a huge phalanx of security – and doubly nice for the shop keepers.

We will never see her like again.

God bless King Charles III and in God rest our dear Queen Elizabeth II.