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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Kris Gourlay

When Edinburgh's street tunnels were searched for bombs ahead of Queen's visit

As is the case with most major events involving world leaders that take place in the world right now, security has to be extremely tight.

With various acts of terrorism taking place in the UK in recent years, the police and the military are constantly on red alert.

You wouldn't think this was the case back in Edinburgh in 1997, though.

READ MORE - Edinburgh pictures show opening of Ocean Terminal with Z-list celebs and 00s fashion

Well, indeed it was. In fact, the police actually went to great lengths to ensure the city was safe from a potential incident as numerous world leaders descended onto the capital in the late 90s.

A striking archive image of an Edinburgh police diver climbing down into the tunnels below Princes Street just before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in the capital has been revisited, showcasing the effort that was undertaken to make sure the city was secure before the largest summit in Commonwealth history, at the time, took place.

The photo of police diver Colin Love was taken on September 14, just over a month until the summit was due to take place in the city.

It shows the heroic officer braving his way down to the depths beneath the city to check for possible explosives in the tunnels below Edinburgh's iconic Princes Street.

The 1997 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was the 15th meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The event was held between October 24 and October 27, 1997, hosted by Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair.

Attending the event were forty-two heads of state of Government. It was also attended by Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who had recently been ousted at President of Sierra Leone. Most notable, however, was the emergence of the civil society fringe of the 'People's Commonwealth', transforming a conference of policy-makers into a cultural celebration. For this reason, most participants and commentators considered it a success.

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Her majesty the Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, opened the event, which was considered a novelty. The monarch, before this event, had never appeared at a CHOGM before, and it marked the beginning of a renewed interest in the Commonwealth from the monarchy, perhaps this was behind the need to check underground tunnels in the capital for explosives.

The Edinburgh Declaration was agreed, endorsing the report of the Inter-Governmental Group on Criteria for Commonwealth Membership, which consolidated and revised previous rules and agreements which had developed over the previous 60 years.

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