The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo takes place every year in August, featuring musical and artistic performances by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and international military bands and regiments.
The name comes from the 17th-century Dutch phrase ‘doe den tap toe’, meaning ‘turn off the tap’, which was a drummed signal for tavern owners to close the beer taps so soldiers would return to their lodgings at a reasonable hour.
A century later ‘tattoo’ came to mean both the last duty call of the day and ceremonial evening entertainment performed by military musicians.
Read more: Edinburgh's Festivals 2026: Here are all the festivals taking place in the Capital this August - and what's happening at them
The first Edinburgh Tattoo was called ‘Something About a Soldier’ and took place in 1949 at the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens, with the official annual event on the castle esplanade starting the next year.
In 1950 around 6,000 spectators saw the show and it has grown in size ever since, adding nightly fireworks and attracting around 220,000 people to the multiple live performances each year.
This year’s event will take place on the Castle Esplanade from August 7-29, but last night (Thursday, August 6) there was a special preview show.
Here are 20 pictures of what you can expect from this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
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