THE minister at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh is to step down after 40 years in the pulpit.

The Very Reverend Gilleasbuig Macmillan, who is also Dean of the Thistle and a Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen, joined the Cathedral in 1973 after moving from Portree Parish Church on the Isle of Skye.

The 70-year-old, who is now retiring, said that it had been a "great privilege" to be minister at St Giles.

Reverend John Chalmers, the Principal Clark of the Church of Scotland, said: "During his time the ­physical space of the ­Cathedral has been ­transformed and this has been driven by his acute sense of what is required to bring the worship of a Cathedral come to life."