Salmond family proud of 'him and everything he did'

Alex Salmond's niece has spoken of her family's pride in her uncle and said they are still trying to process his sudden death.

Christina Hendry was speaking ahead of a memorial service for the former first minister, which will take place on Saturday in Edinburgh.

The ceremony will be streamed live from St Giles' Cathedral at 11:00 and will be attended by family, friends and former political colleagues of Salmond, who died of a heart attack, aged 69, on 12 October.

The former SNP and Alba leader, who led the country between 2007 and 2014, had become ill while attending an international conference in North Macedonia.

Ms Hendry said his family were "doing OK" and "doing what uncle Alex would tell us to do and just keeping going".

She said there had been a lot to plan between bringing his body home and arranging both the funeral - which took place on 29 October in Aberdeenshire - and this weekend's memorial service.

"I'm not sure there's really been time to fully process things and fully grieve but as a family we're sticking together, keeping close and keeping going," she said.

"I think for anybody and for any family losing a loved one is really, really hard. It's been especially difficult because of where he died but also how high-profile he was and I think that's come with challenges.

"There's no escape. It's also in the media a lot and I'm not sure that's allowed time to actually process things ourselves as a family," she added.

Ms Hendry said there have also been positives in the past weeks, with the family receiving many messages about her uncle. She travelled to Holyrood just after his death to view the book of condolence and tributes left by the public.

"It has given us a chance to think back on everything he did and just how, I think, how proud we are of him and everything he did," she said.

Ms Hendry will speak at the memorial service, which will also feature performances by musicians Dougie MacLean and The Proclaimers.

"Uncle Alex always spoke about his love for Scotland and I think that's what we're going with. We knew how much uncle Alex loved Scotland, loved Scottish culture, loved the Scottish arts.

"We want it to be about Scotland and about uncle Alex and how much he valued Scotland and saw Scotland's potential for the future for independence."

Tributes will be delivered by Kenny MacAskill - a longtime ally of Salmond who joined him in the Alba Party - as well as former SNP MSP turned advocate Duncan Hamilton KC.

The veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing will read from The Wild Geese by Violet Jacob.

Conservative MP Sir David Davis, who shared a long friendship with Salmond, will give a Bible reading.

A statement from Salmond's family earlier this month said: "The family are overwhelmed by the level of public interest in attending Alex's memorial service.

"Sadly, we cannot accommodate everyone who would like to attend but are pleased to say that the event will be live-streamed from St Giles' Cathedral."

You can watch the Memorial Service live from St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh on the BBC News website and BBC iPlayer from 10:30 on Saturday 30 November.