"A more fortunate chapter in our family history opened in the early seventeenth century with the military achievements of Sir John Hepburn who has been described by a French military historian as 'one of the best officers Scotland ever produced'. As a young, gallant cavalier Sir John fought as a soldier of fortune with the Bohemian, Dutch, Swedish and French armies. The Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus extolled his virtues and role in a string of victories culminating at Leipzig in 1631 when, family history relates, Hepburn's Scots Brigade, or 'Green Brigade' as it was more popularly known, charged. . .'firing in platoons, they swept on until so close to the Austrians that the very colour of their eyes was visible. . .' Their dramatic offensive 'turned what was apparently going to be a defeat into a glorious victory'. Gustavus expressed his gratitude to the Green Brigade in front of the whole army, 'ascribing the fortune of the day to its bold advance and headlong valour'."

Further battles, great victories and accolades followed. In 1633 Sir John elected to fight with the French in the Thirty Years' War against Austria and Spain. In March of that year, with the blessing of Charles I, he went to Scotland where he recruited 2,000 men. Returning to France, he was appointed maréchal-de-camp by Louis XIII. With these men and the remnant of the Green Brigade he founded The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment). Hepburn's claim that the new regiment's descent from the veteran Green Brigade meant it was the oldest regiment in France and thus entitled to be posted to the right of the line, the position of seniority, infuriated the old French Regiment of Picardy, which dubbed Hepburn's unit "Pontius Pilate's Regiment", a name which the regiment has borne with pride to this day.*

In 1636 Louis XIII awarded the diploma of a Marshal of France to "le Chevalier Hebron". Sir John, Marshal of France and 1st Colonel of The Royal Scots regiment, was killed, aged 38, just three years later at the siege of Saverne. A family historian relates that "he died like the hero he had lived, his last words being touchingly expressive of regret that he should be buried so far from the secluded kirkyard where his forefathers lay". Years later Louis XIV raised a monument to his memory inscribed "the best soldier in Christendom, and consequently in the world". The Royal Scots regiment, the oldest regiment in the British Army today, went on to gain numerous battle honours, fighting in almost every campaign involving British forces over the past 370 years.

Military prowess has been evident far more recently in the family's history. Two faded, frayed and bullet-damaged flags serve as a reminder of an extraordinary act of courage by the late Lt. John Trant Buchan-Hepburn, Sir Alastair Buchan-Hepburn's father. At the outbreak of World War I, John Trant was just eighteen years old and working as a rubber planter in Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was then. Keen to fight the Kaiser, he helped to raise a regiment, the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps, which was subsequently seconded to the Royal Australian Artillery. Following training in Egypt, Lt. Buchan-Hepburn went with the Anzacs to the Dardanelles where, in 1916, they were part of a force that went ashore at Gallipoli to join the allied campaign against the Turks.

Sir Alastair explains that "The campaign was unsuccessful and eventually the order was given to retreat to the troopships. But then it was realised that two Union flags had inadvertently been left behind. To retrieve them my father impulsively dived overboard and swam back to shore where he was wounded by rifle fire from the Turkish army. Nevertheless, he managed to reach the flags, wrapped them around himself and swam back, in doing so being shot again. He managed to reach the ship and was given a hero's welcome. Later, still in possession of the flags, he was transferred to a hospital ship where he had the good fortune to choose to bed down on the exposed top deck rather than on the overcrowded lower deck. . . because en route to Malta the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. Just before it sank, again wrapping himself in the flags, my father jumped into the sea.

"He managed to cling on to a piece of wreckage until he was picked up by a British destroyer which took him, with other survivors, to Malta. There he was congratulated by the general for his courage in saving the flags but informed that, unfortunately, a recommendation that he be given an award for gallantry could not be pursued because he had broken King's Regulations by jumping overboard without being ordered to do so. As his battle honour, my father was, however, invited to keep the two Union flags.

"He subsequently saw further action at the Somme, Passchendaele, and at Ypres where he was badly gassed. He was eventually invalided back to Scotland together with his cousin Thomas Buchan-Hepburn who had also been gassed while serving with The Royal Scots in France. My father died in St. Andrews in 1953, aged 63".

"We have framed the flags which are of considerable sentimental value to our family. Eventually they might be exhibited in a national museum so that people can share in the story of their rescue."

Maintaining his family's long military tradition, Sir Alastair served five years in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards, which included a three-year tour of duty in Malaya where he was aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief in the Far East. This was followed, from 1957, by a long and distinguished career in the UK licensed trade from which he retired in December 2001. Sir Alastair is a member of numerous sporting and charitable bodies including the Royal and Ancient Golf Club St. Andrews, the Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh, St. Andrews Preservation Trust and the St. Andrews branch of the British Legion. He is also a member of the Baronets' Trust - a charitable body - and a trustee of Dundee Industrial Heritage.

The Hepburn family is proud of its long history and eminent ancestors. Family portraits, histories and John Trant's Union flags all serve to remind their kinsmen of their colourful background. Sir Alastair's interest in family history is, however, anything but passive. Over the past seven years he has been strongly campaigning for the return of the remains of James, 4th Earl of Bothwell, from Faravejle Church, Zeeland, Denmark so that he can give his ancestor a final, dignified resting place in Scotland. The remains have already been exhumed several times and from 1949 to 1975 they were even displayed in a glass coffin as "The Scottish King" for public viewing. To date Sir Alastair's request has been refused because of uncertainty surrounding the identification of the mummified body. To resolve the situation Sir Alastair has agreed to undergo DNA testing.

Recently Sir Alastair Buchan-Hepburn has also been involved in the restoration of a 400-year-old dovecote adjacent to Athelstaneford Church in East Lothian. This now provides a Flag Heritage Centre in the very village where the Saltire or St. Andrew's Cross was conceived over 1,100 years ago, to remind visitors of the history behind Scotland's national flag - the oldest in Europe. The dovecote was originally built in 1583 by George Hepburn whose son, Sir John, was the founder of The Royal Scots.

* A comprehensive history of The Royal Scots by Robert H. Paterson entitled Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard was published in two volumes in November 2001. It is available from Regimental Headquarters, The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), The Castle, Edinburgh EH1 2YT

Photo of Sir Alastair Buchan-Hepburn with portraits of Mary Queen of Scots and of his ancestor, 4th Earl of Bothwell, reproduced by courtesy of Sandy Young Photographer who can be contacted via email or Tel: 07970 268944.