Alastair Bruce

Major-General Alastair Andrew Bernard Reibey Bruce (born 25 June 1960) is a journalist and television correspondent, and a senior British Army reservist and officer of arms in the Royal Household. He commanded the TA Media Operations Group before being appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 2019. Royal, Religious and National Events Commentator for Sky News, Bruce was previously engaged by the BBC, and was historical adviser to several feature films and the ITV series Downton Abbey. He has commentated on many major state events in the United Kingdom, including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Royal Wedding in 2011, the Papal Visit in 2010, and the deaths and funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, The Queen Mother in 2002, The Duke of Edinburgh in 2021, and Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. Early life and education Bruce was born at Winchester in 1960, younger son of Lieutenant Commander Henry Victor Bruce of Salloch and Helen Vernon Wallop William-Powlett, daughter of Vice Admiral Sir Peveril William-Powlett. His great-grandfather was James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine KT, and he is in remainder to both family earldoms. Brought up in Hampshire, he spent much of his childhood in Sutherland, in the far north of the Scottish Highlands, where his parents owned the Sallachy Estate near the village of Lairg. Bruce was educated at Milton Abbey School, an independent boarding school for boys (now co-educational), in Milton Abbas, Dorset, before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, in Berkshire.