Rev Susan Brown, the minister of Dornoch Cathedral in the Highlands, will take up the year-long role when the Kirk’s General Assembly begins in Edinburgh on Saturday.

The 59-year-old, known for having been the minister who married Madonna and Guy Ritchie in 2000, said she is “deeply moved and honoured” to be chosen for the role.

Succeeding the Right Rev Dr Derek Browning, she will be the fourth woman to hold the title.

Mrs Brown said: “The prospect of becoming Moderator of the General Assembly is slightly scary but incredibly exciting.

“It will be a challenging year but I am really up for it.

“As the ambassador for the Church, I am really looking forward to meeting people and hearing their stories as my theme is ‘walking with’.

“I also want to highlight how important walking, which is an ancient spiritual tradition, is for our physical and mental health, an issue that I plan to raise with political leaders.”

Around 730 commissioners from Scotland and beyond are expected to attend the General Assembly on The Mound to make decisions on matters of Kirk policy and governance.

Notable events in the week ahead include an expected discussion on Saturday afternoon on whether to allow ministers who wish to do so to perform same sex marriages.

Rev Bryan Kerr has put forward a motion to be voted on, telling the Legal Questions…

The soon-to-be husband and wife will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they’re married later at St George’s Chapel.

Harry will also be able to call himself the Earl of Dumbarton and the Baron of Kilkeel.

The Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, issued a statement on Saturday morning after hearing the news from The Palace. 

“The Diocese of Chichester is delighted that Her Majesty the Queen has given the title of Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry and Meghan, his new wife,” he said.

“Their unself-conscious and caring attention for those who are so often overlooked, veterans, young people from every walk of life, and those who live with mental illness, will be a great example and encouragement to us.

“We assure them of our very best wishes for the future and that they will have a special place in our hearts, here in Sussex.”

Idris Elba (second from left) and Oprah Winfery (second from right) arrive at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Megan Markle and Prince Harry.

Meanwhile the first of the guests are already at Windsor Castle ahead of the service, which begins at noon.

Those inside St George’s Chapel will find it’s been filled with greenery and flowers, including white roses and peonies.

The Order of…

Armed with a shotgun and a pistol, the shooting at the Santa Fe High School committed the nation’s deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teenagers for gun control.

The suspected shooter, who was in custody on murder charges, also had explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby, said Governor Greg Abbott, who called the assault “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools”.

Investigators offered no immediate motive for the shooting.

The governor said the assailant intended to kill himself but gave up and told police that he did not have the courage to take his own life.

The deaths were all but certain to re-ignite the national debate over gun regulations, coming just three months after the Parkland, Florida, attack that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“It’s been happening everywhere. I’ve always kind of felt like that eventually it was going to happen here, too,” Santa Fe High School student Paige Curry told Houston television station KTRK. “I don’t know. I wasn’t surprised. I was just scared.”

Another 10 people were wounded at the school in Santa Fe, a city of about 13,000 people roughly 30 miles southeast of Houston, the governor said.

The wounded included a school police officer who was the first to confront the suspect and got shot in…

St George’s Chapel’s lofty heights normally reverberate to traditional choral music but the Kingdom Choir, directed by its founder Karen Gibson, is expected to put on an inspirational performance.

The gospel choices are likely to be down to Meghan Markle, who appears to have brought the sounds of her American homeland to the Gothic chapel.

Ms Gibson, who will lead her group during the service, has said: “The Kingdom Choir is truly honoured to be invited to sing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Ms Markle, and very excited to be taking part in such a historic moment.

“It will be a moment that we will always treasure and we’d like to take the opportunity to wish the couple all the very best for their coming union.”

After the US bishop Michael Curry gives the address, the gospel choir will perform Stand By Me, made famous by singer Ben E King but also sung by Beatle John Lennon.

When the bride and groom walk through the chapel after they are married, the gospel choir, who will be positioned at the west end of the place of worship, will sing the gospel classic Amen/This Little Light of Mine.

It is a favourite in African-American churches across the US and versions of the song have been sung by a string of soul artists from Otis Redding to Sam Cooke, but they will perform Etta James’s version.

The newlyweds will begin…

Speaking from the Nave, Diana, Princess of Wales’ older sister will read from the Song of Solomon, which stresses the strength and power of love.

The short reading proclaims: “My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone’.”

The decision to give the important role of delivering the reading to the late princess’s sibling shows the strong connection Harry retains with his mother’s family.

Lady Jane, whose husband Baron Robert Fellowes is a former private secretary to the Queen, also gave a reading at Diana’s funeral in 1997.

The passage that will be read on Saturday says: “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.

“Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.”

It also says: “If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.”

The reading comes from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Harry was just 12 years old when his mother was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.

The image of the young prince and brother William, then 15, walking behind Diana’s coffin on the day of her funeral became etched in the public’s memory.

All three of Diana’s siblings – Earl…