Grateful Robert the Bruce still giving after 700 years

A CHURCH still receives a small annual fee nearly 700 years after King Robert the Bruce first bequeathed it.

The king was so grateful for the congregation’s generosity after the death of his wife that he made sure they were repaid.

And the Cullen and Deskford Parish Church in Moray still receives a fee – £2.10 – from the local council in accordance with the king’s wishes.

King Robert’s wife and queen Elizabeth de Burgh died after falling from her horse during a visit to what was then the Auld Kirk in Cullen – a royal residence – in 1327.

Her body was to be taken to the traditional burial ground of Scottish royals at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, but concerned parishioners were worried that her remains would not arrive intact.

They also held masses to pray for her soul so that it could, as they believed, get to heaven.

They took the step of having her internal organs removed and transporting them separately to Fife.

The devastated king was so grateful for the care of the congregation he decreed the then large sum of five Scots pounds be paid to the church.

He wanted his wife to be remembered every year at the church and promised that the sum would be paid forever.

The Reverend Douglas Stevenson, minister of the current church, said: “King Robert left an endowment for the saying of masses for the soul of his deceased queen.

“There was a very powerful belief at the time that if prayers weren’t said for those who had died they would never get to heaven.

“This money was paid continuously to the incumbent priest, or minister.”