As if to prove that not only is she above petty party politics but also that she doesn’t bear grudges, the Queen has made Ian Blackford, the leader of the SNP in the House of Commons, one of her most senior advisers only 24 hours after his party voted that the public should stop paying her wages.

He was sworn in as a member of “ Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council” in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace, entitling him to use the prefix "The Right Honourable" for the rest of his life.

Established in 1708, the Privy Council is the formal body of ‘advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom" and is mainly made up of senior politicians, civil servants and other prominent citizens.

The initiation ceremony is supposed to require new privy councillors to kneel, kiss the Queen’s hands and swear an oath ( or affirm) that they will “bear faith and allegiance unto the Queen’s Majesty” and “ keep secret all matters committed and revealed unto you.” It has been reported, however, that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn did not kneel.

Mr Blackford became the SNP’s Westminster leader following the June general election and the defeat of Angus Robertson, his predecessor, who is also a Privy Councillor, as are First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her predecessors Alex Salmond, Jack McConnell and Henry McLeish.