Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of St Andrews on Saturday for the Kate Kennedy spring procession.
The traditional spectacle will see St Andrews University students and staff dress up as more than 100 character from the history of the town and Scotland.
Riding in a daffodil-festooned carriage will be the central character, Lady Katharine Kennedy, the widely adored niece of St Salvator’s College founder Bishop Kennedy.
The identity of the student who plays her will remain a closely guarded secret until the parade sets off from St Salvator’s Quadrangle, in North Street, at 2pm to make its way round the town centre.
Also portrayed will be John Knox, Mary Queen of Scots, Archbishop Sharp and the highwaymen who murdered him. Other characters include former rectors Rudyard Kipling and John Cleese, while a new figure this year will be Sir Charles Erskine of Cambo.
Also paraded for the first time will be the Kate Kennedy Club’s own coat-of-arms and a heraldic flag for King Robert the Bruce, awarded by the Lord Lyon King of Arts of the Court of the Lord Lyon and a representative of Lord Dundee in March.
Kate Kennedy Club spokesman Owain Morton said: “Hopefully the sun will shine for us as it has done for the last few years.
“This will be a consolidation of the event last year when it was our 90th anniversary and hopefully we will see how the procession continues to grow.”
The Kate Kennedy Club was formed in 1926 by two students with the help of then principal Sir James Colquhoun and its 90th anniversary was celebrated at last year’s procession.
It revived the pageant, which has its roots in the mid-19th century and was once outlawed by university authorities for being too rowdy.
The charity run by students also raises funds for good causes and does voluntary work.
