THE joint chief executives of Standard Life Aberdeen are unlikely to bow to anyone in the business world.

But, in keeping with Royal etiquette, Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert may well have lowered their heads yesterday when they met the Princess Royal, who was in Edinburgh to perform the official opening duties at the investment giant’s £90 million office .

The visit came 21 years after the Princess opened Standard Life’s previous headquarters in the city.

The company has moved to the nine-storey office at 6 St Andrew Square following the £12 billion merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management last year.

READ MORE: Standard Life mulls way to keep Scottish Widows work

The deal is expected to lead to 800 job cuts from a combined workforce of around 9,000, with the business confident of making savings of £200 million per year further to the merger.

One thousand of its staff are based in the new Edinburgh headquarters, which spans 100,000 square feet and was developed by the Standard Life Pooled Property Pension Fund and joint venture partner Peveril Securities.

The building has 65,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and apartments on its lower-ground, ground and first floors.