Former Lord Lieutenant thought CVO was invitation to retirement reception

Donald Martin was shocked to open his Buckingham Palace stamped envelope to find he had been awarded a CVO.

The former Western Isles Lord Lieutenant had presumed it might contain an invitation to a reception for retires after stepping down in March.

He was “deeply humbled” to discover what it really was, but said his time serving the Royal family was enough of an honour already.

“The opportunity I had to serve the late Queen and the rest of the Royal family on behalf of the Western Isles was, for me, a real honour in itself and I wasn’t expecting anything else,” said Mr Martin.

“I feel deeply humbled and delighted for the communities, organisations and lieutenant team I have worked with. I regard this award as much for them as it is for me.”

First native Gaelic speaking Lord Lieutenant

Mr Martin is well versed in the Western Isles Lieutenancy, working his way up through the roles since 1997.

He said: “I am probably unique in that I have held all four roles within the lieutenancy.

“I started off as clerk and I did that for a total of 19 years, during that time I was appointed a depute lieutenant, then in 2013 I was appointed vice lieutenant then in 2016 I was appointed lord lieutenant.”

He believes he was also unique in being Her Majesty’s first native Gaelic speaking Lord Lieutenant.

Though he had left the role by the time the Prince of Wales became King Charles, he said it was special to have been named on His Majesty’s first honours list.

Grand visits to grandchildren

In his roles in the lieutenancy, Stornoway-based Mr Martin met most of the Royal family over the years, some on numerous occasions.

One of his fondest memories was organising the Queen’s Golden Jubilee visit to Stornoway in 2002 which he said was a “very memorable” day for the community.

He added: “Elderly citizens meet them and feel very proud and privileged, they get excited by the prospect of meeting them and once they meet them they’re very surprised by how down to earth and natural they are.”

Mr Martin is still involved in a number of community groups and enjoys promoting Gaelic to the masses.

He formerly held roles as interim chief executive for Bord na Gaidhlig, chairman of the Harris Tweed Authority, chairman of Gaelic bilingual publishing company Acair Ltd and secretary of the UK and Scottish committees of the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages.

Since retiring earlier this year, Mr Martin has been kept busy by his seven grandchildren – three of whom live on the island near him.