HRH The Princess Royal opens the Joyce Grainger Learning Centre

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal today (31st October) visited the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (“the College”) in the city’s Queen Street and officially opened the new Joyce Grainger Learning Centre. 

The Joyce Grainger Learning Centre is a permanent gallery and learning centre - funded by Dr Joyce Grainger's Charitable Trust - and an extension of the College’s existing Physicians’ Gallery which was awarded Museum Accreditation status in 2024. The Centre’s exhibition explores the themes of Edinburgh’s medical history, medical and psychiatric art, and the lived experience of patients. Over 50 objects and books are on display, sharing stories from medieval medicine to modern day treatments. 

The Princess Royal was welcomed to the College by the President, Professor Andrew Elder, and met with office bearers and staff of the College and representatives of Dr Joyce Grainger's Charitable Trust. After viewing some of the centre’s exhibits, Her Royal Highness unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening of the centre.

Exhibits include the only Ripley Scroll on permanent public display anywhere in the world – a 5.5 metre alchemical scroll which is said to contain the secret to the Philosopher’s Stone. Also on permanent display is the Jacobite medicine chest of Sir Stuart Threipland, personal physician to Bonnie Prince Charlie, said to have been used at the Battle of Culloden and containing 147 different medicines. 

Professor Andrew Elder, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:

Our College is deeply honoured that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal opened our new Joyce Grainger Learning Centre. Her Royal Highness has been an Honorary Fellow of the College since 1991 and we greatly appreciate her repeated visits to the College over the years and her ongoing interest in all aspects of our work. 

We are very grateful to Dr Joyce Grainger's Charitable Trust whose generosity allowed us to create the Joyce Grainger Learning Centre and therefore expand our heritage offering significantly. The late Dr Grainger was an eminent Fellow of the College and the College community is delighted that her name is now a permanent feature of our building through the new Learning Centre.  

The Learning Centre will allow us to give the public much greater access to some of the historic medical objects in our collection and to put some of the most important and fascinating pieces on permanent display. In addition, it will mean that we will have a place to involve young people and enable learning about the history of medicine. I encourage both local residents and visitors to Edinburgh from across the world to come to the College and see the exciting displays we are offering.

Dr Daisy Cunynghame, the College’s Heritage Manager and Librarian, said:

We have some really amazing and unique historic objects, and it is great to be able to put them on permanent display. Our Jacobite medicine chest has been a source of fascination for many fans of the TV series Outlander – after watching a fictional series about a Jacobite-era medic, they now get to see what the real thing looks like! And our alchemical scroll, which allegedly contains the secret to the Philosopher’s Stone, is always a hit with Harry Potter fans.

Through our new Joyce Grainger Learning Centre we will be able to run workshops for young people about health and medicine and share some fascinating stories from our collections. We’re covering a lot of topics - from straitjackets and prosthetic legs to asylum art, and along the way fitting in some poisons, murder and bloodletting.