THEIR Majesties the King and the Queen Consort will visit Dunfermline on Monday to confer city status officially.

This will be the first official engagement of the King and the Queen Consort since the end of formal royal mourning for her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and there are expected to be large crowds in attendance to welcome the new King to West Fife as he grants the city status conferred by Her Majesty in May.

They will attend an official council meeting at the City Chambers and visit Dunfermline Abbey and will be welcomed to Dunfermline by community groups, including a
local pipe band and local school children.

On arrival at the City Chambers, the King will be greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of
Fife, Robert Balfour, who will introduce the First Minister and Secretary of State for
Scotland.

Their Majesties will then proceed into the Chamber Room where His Majesty the King
will formally mark the conferral of city status on Dunfermline and make a short speech.

After the ceremony, the King and the Queen Consort will take a short walk to
Dunfermline Abbey, to mark its 950th anniversary.

Their Majesties will meet representatives from Historic Scotland to learn about the history of the local area and conservation of the site.

Provost of Fife, Councillor Jim Leishman, said: “This is a great honour for Dunfermline and Fife. To have been granted the title of city from her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth was a huge achievement, but to have that title presented to us personally by our new King is more than we could have imagined.

"Dunfermline has always had a special place in my heart. I’m so proud that the town I love is being recognised in this way."

Eight places are to become cities as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The former towns each made a bid for city status as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition and were asked to highlight their royal associations, as well as showcase their communities and local identity.

Dunfermline’s bid for city status was based on its heritage and its historic status as an ancient seat of royal power but it is also one of the fastest-growing towns in Europe.

A briefing advising of the visit from Buckinham Palace said Dunfermline "has an impressive record of accomplishment in innovation and economic resilience, with infrastructure and transport networks. The parks and green spaces, with their freeroaming peacocks, are a source of considerable pride to its residents. The town has a long history of inclusion, with its dementia-friendly signs in the town centre and its award-winning school Calaiswood, which was visited by the Princess Royal in 2015."

Dunfermline was established as the new seat of power in 1057 by King Malcolm III, who married Margaret of Wessex.

She was later canonised as a saint, and a pioneer in many ways. It was Margaret of Wessex who brought the Benedictine monks to Scotland and introduced cultural innovations from the Courts of Europe.

As Scotland’s only female Saint, she drew pilgrims from all over, leading to the building of Dunfermline Abbey, the burial site of kings and queens, including King Robert the Bruce, and this year celebrating its 950th anniversary.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth IIvisited the Abbey previously to mark its 900th anniversary.

The briefing continued: "Today, city-standard infrastructure and transport networks have helped secure large employers. Modern transport developments like the recent major park and ride facilities, construction of a northern link road, the nearby Queensferry Crossing and well-advanced talks to re-establish the Rosyth-Zeebrugge freight and passenger ferry, mean the new city of Dunfermline has links across Scotland."

They will later will host a reception to celebrate British South Asian communities at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.