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The Royal status of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is intrinsically linked to the issue of a Royal Warrant to the first Intendant of the Gardens in 1699. Since that date, the appointment of each new Director of RBGE has required the assent of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, the appointee receiving the unique title Regius (= royal) Keeper.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland — Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan and Benmore — each with its own specialist collection. The RBGE's living collection consists of more than 13,302 plant species, whilst the herbarium contains in excess of 3 million preserved specimens.
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The current monarch and head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended the throne in 1952.
Just 29 years after the original Physic Garden was founded, by Dr (later Sir) Robert Sibbald and Dr (later Sir) Andrew Balfour, their appointed Garden overseer - James Sutherland - was rewarded for his diverse contributions: to the care of the gardens, to medical and botanical teaching and perhaps crucially, to the restoration of the King’s Garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Royal Warrant was issued on 12 January 1699, at the close of the 17th century.
Sir Robert Sibbald was a Scottish physician and antiquary.
Sir Andrew Balfour was a Scottish doctor, botanist, antiquary and book collector, the youngest brother of the antiquarian Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet.
James Sutherland was the first professor of botany at the University of Edinburgh, from 1676-1705. He was intendant of the Physical Garden, and his innovative publication Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis placed Scotland at the forefront of European botany.
Until 1956 the office of Regius Keeper was combined with the office of His/Her Majesty's Botanist (also established in 1699). Since then the office of HM Botanist has been honorary and conferred on a serving or retired Regius Keeper.
His/Her Majesty's Botanist is a member of the Royal household in Scotland.
The following is a list of those who have held the office of Regius Keeper with the years in post.
- James Sutherland (1699 – 1715)
- William Arthur (1715)
- Charles Alston (1716-1760)
- John Hope (1761-1786)
- Daniel Rutherford (1786-1819)
- Robert Graham (1820-1845)
- John Hutton Balfour (1845-1879)
- Alexander Dickson (1880-1887)
- Isaac Bayley Balfour (1888-1922)
- William Wright Smith (1922-1956)
- Harold Roy Fletcher (1956-1970)
- Douglas Mackay Henderson (1970-1987)
- John McNeill (1987-1989)
- David Stanley Ingram (1990-1998)
- Stephen Blackmore (1999-2013)
- Simon Milne (2014–present) [1]
William Arthur was appointed Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and King's Botanist at Edinburgh in 1715, through his political connections, despite having no botanical qualifications. Shortly afterwards he was deeply implicated in the First Jacobite rising, though there is still no agreement on whether this was fair. He fled to Italy, where he died the following year "from a surfeit of figs."
Charles Alston was a Scottish botanist.
Professor John Hope was a Scottish physician and botanist. Although he did enormous work on plant classification and plant physiology, due to an absence of publications, he is now best known as an early supporter of Carl Linnaeus's system of classification.
