Edited by Murray Naylor

Philip Erskine served in the Scots Guards for nearly twenty years. During that time he served in the 1st Battalion in 1954 in the Canal Zone before British troops finally withdrew. Five years later he joined the staff of the Governor General of New Zealand, Lord Cobham, as one of his ADCs. Finally, in the late summer 1967 he commanded the Royal Guard when HM The Queen was in residence at Balmoral. He left the Army in 1971 and went to live in South Africa where he died in 2013. Philip was a great raconteur, a prolific writer and a very entertaining person. He had a multitude of friends and was interested in nearly everything and everybody. He painted very successfully and might well have opted for a career as an artist had he not joined the Regiment. He was a kind and generous man who gave much to all whom he encountered. While serving, he wrote a series of letter to his family describing his experiences.  His wife, Fiona, and his family have agreed these should be collected into a single volume: “A Life Lit by Sunlight. A Selection of Letters written by Philip Erskine while serving with the Scots Guards 1953 -1971.”