Atholl Highlanders

The Atholl Highlanders
Cap Badge of the Atholl Highlanders
Active	1839 – Present
Country	Scotland
Type	Infantry
Role	Personal bodyguard
Size	One company
Part of	Private army
Garrison/HQ	Blair Atholl
Motto(s)	Furth Fortune and Fill the Fetters
March	The Atholl Highlanders
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Murray
Colonel-in-Chief	The Duke of Atholl
Insignia
Tartan	Murray of Atholl

The Atholl Highlanders is a Scottish ceremonial infantry regiment. The regiment is not part of the British Army but is in the private employ of the Duke of Atholl, and based in Blair Atholl, where it serves as a tourist attraction.

The regiment was raised in Perthshire by John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl as the 77th Regiment of Foot (or Atholl Highlanders, or Murray's Highlanders) in December 1777. The regiment was formed as a relief for other regiments serving in North America, and spent most of its existence in Ireland. The terms upon which the regiment was raised stated that the men were to be employed for either three years or the duration of the war in America. In 1781, the original three-year term ended, and the men expected the regiment to be disbanded. However, the regiment was transported to England and marched to Portsmouth to be embarked for service in India. Upon learning of this, the men mutinied, and the embarkation orders were countermanded. The regiment was marched to Berwick, where it disbanded in 1783.

More than 50 years later, in 1839, George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl, as Lord Glenlyon, resurrected the regiment as a bodyguard which he took to the Eglinton Tournament at Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire. Three years later, in 1842, the regiment escorted Queen Victoria during her tour of Perthshire and, in 1844, when the Queen stayed as a guest of the Duke at Blair Castle, the regiment mounted the guard for the entire duration of her stay. In recognition of the service that the regiment provided during her two visits, the Queen announced that she would present the Atholl Highlanders with colours, thus giving the regiment official status. The regiment's first stand of colours was presented by Lady Glenlyon on behalf of the Queen in 1845. It received new colours in 1979 from Mrs David Butter, the wife of the Lord Lieutenant of Perth and Kinross. A third stand of colours was presented in 2006 by the Duchess of Atholl.