wearing the military style kilt

[carlisle401]

Yes, this is one of the reasons I chose to wear a Pipe Major uniform- I'm an older guy with a beard. Another is that the Pipe Major badges are badges of office rather than badges of rank, and are worn by military and civilian Pipe Majors alike, and I did hold that office at one time.

Now, one occasionally sees, in modern times, pipers besides the Pipe Major wearing beards, like this Argylls piper

This Piper was excused from shaving because of a skin condition. While he was doing basic training at Glencorse, he became Best Recruit. The only recruit who had a beard for many years.

[OC Richard]

Very interesting! Thanks for the info.

Also, when the Pipes & Drums of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders were on their 1993 USA tour at least two of the pipers had beards, the Pipe Major (as one might expect) and one of the pipers, a short fellow with a shaved head and a bright ginger beard. (There are two photos of this fellow in the tour programme, but unfortunately not a single photo which shows the entire pipe corps.)

I had long heard that it was traditional for the Pipe Major of the Camerons to be bearded, and this evidently has carried onto The Highlanders, but I've seen modern Pipe Majors of The Black Watch and the Argylls with beards too.