Sultan Qaboos: Donation for Cameronian connection

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said has gifted £25,000 to a Scottish church, St Mary’s Episcopal in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, to help restore flags used in battle by the 2nd battalion of The Cameronians during the Zulu campaign in 1879. Reverend Ian Barcroft wrote to Qaboos via the embassy of Oman; a cheque arrived soon after the London embassy verified the letter. The Cameronians served in Oman during the late 1950s; the sultan subsequently copied The Cameronians 1st battalion’s distinctive badge, and Balmoral bonnets are worn to this day by the armed forces. Qaboos served with the 1st Battalion in Germany in the early 1960s.