The Honorable Adam Bruce is the current Finlaggan Pursuivant of Arms, a herald in service to the Clan Donald of Scotland.
He is the younger son of the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine and cousin of Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, the current Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary.[1]
Formerly a solicitor in Edinburgh, at age 37 Bruce was appointed as Private Officer of Arms to Clan Donald by Godfrey Macdonald, 8th Lord Macdonald of Slate, Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdonald of Macdonald and High Chief of Clan Donald. He was the first such Macdonald clan herald installed in 510 years.[1]
Finlaggan, Adam Bruce's his heraldic title, comes from a location near Port Askaig in Islay, the centre of the realm of the Macdonald Lords of the Isles until they lost power in 1493.[1][2]
Bruce's installation as Finlaggan marks the revival of the ancient practice of senior clan chiefs having their own private pursuivants to look after matters of clan heraldry and genealogy. His position joins that of Slains Pursuivant to the Earl of Erroll, Garioch Pursuivant to the Countess of Mar and Endure Pursuivant of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres.[1]
The Honourable
Adam Bruce (far right) at his installation as
Finlaggan Pursuivant of Arms of
Clan Donald. Finlaggan wears a tabard emblazoned with the arms of his employer, the Chief of Clan Donald. The four participating
chiefs are to the left.
Bruce was inducted as Finlaggan Pursuivant on Saturday, 11 June 2005 at Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. He was sworn in during the a re-creation of an ancient ceremony in front of a hundred Macdonald clansfolk and their supporters by Lord Macdonald with the assistance of Ranald MacDonald of Clan Ranald, Ranald MacDonell of Glengarry and Sir Ian Macdonald of Sleat. He took an oath of office to "bear fealty and true service to the high chief of Clan Donald, and the chiefs and high council of the clan". The four chiefs, each dressed in a kilt of his family's tartan, ceremonially anointed the new pursuivant by sprinkling wine on his head to mark his new position.[1][3]
The ceremony was conducted in front of a monument to the Massacre of Glencoe and was led by Portsoy resident Charles Burnett, Ross Herald of Arms at the Court of the Lord Lyon dressed in a tabard of the Royal Arms of Scotland. Bruce was given a baton of office and donned a £6,000 specially-woven gold tabard emblazoned with the arms of Lord Macdonald – a red spread-eagle with a black galley on the breast. Bagpipers provided musical accompanyment.[1][4]
Mark Dennis, an advocate and heraldist in St Andrews, designed the ceremony for this occasion, a task made difficult since no records exist of exactly how a pursuivant may have been appointed. He also designed the Finlaggan tabard.[3]
