“;Robert Burns: The Man & His Music”; is the theme of Saturday's annual “;Burns Nicht”; for the Caledonian Society of Hawaii.

The Scots are known for their exquisite taste in both whiskey and music, but only one of them goes down smoothly. The special guest is one of the world's great bagpipers, James Motherwell, formerly the Queen's Own Piper, only the 10th piper of that rank since Queen Victoria created the position in 1842.

Hailing from Kilsyth, Scotland, Motherwell mustered in with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1980, becoming pipe major in 1992 and then serving from 1998 to 2003 as the Queen's Own, piping for her majesty at ceremonial occasions. The Queen's Own Piper divides his duties between Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Holyrood House, Balmoral Castle and Windsor Castle.

Motherwell has also piped for both of the Presidents Bush, as well as for President Clinton and Pope John Paul II, and celebrities including Roger Moore, Michael Caine, Shirley Bassey, Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley, and for Joan Collins at her wedding.

In 1842, desiring to hear famous bagpiper John Ban MacKenzie play, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert ventured north to Taymouth Castle to visit the Marquis of Breadalbane. The keening sound of the pipes, like all things Scots, delighted Victoria, and she dashed off a letter to her mother: “;We have heard nothing but bagpipes since we have been to the beautiful Highlands and I have become so fond of it that I mean to have a piper.”;

The first Queen's Own—known in Gaelic as “;Piobair na Bhan Righ”;—was Angus MacKay, who moved from the Highland wilds to sooty London. MacKay discovered the position was not just piping. It included serving as garden footman, waiter, doorman, escort and general service around the palace.

These days, job one for the Sovereign's Piper is to play at 9 a.m. weekdays at for about 15 minutes under the queen's window in whatever palace she's in, no matter the weather, taking vacation only when the queen is at Sandringham in Norfolk. He's not supposed to play the same theme twice during the summer months at Balmoral.

The only folks authorized to wear the Balmoral tartan are the royals themselves and the queen's personal piper, who also sports two eagle feathers in his bonnet.