The Lord High Commissioner is the Sovereign’s personal representative to the Annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
For 2010 he is Lord Wilson of Tillyorn KT. He was the second last Governor of Hong Kong and is currently President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He attends the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on behalf of the Sovereign. He makes the opening and closing addresses to the Assembly, and carries out a number of official functions as the Lord High Commissioner.
This year’s Moderator is the Right Reverend John Cairns Christie of St Andrew’s Church, West Kilbride, succeeding the Very Reverend William Hewitt, Minister of Westburn in Greenock.
Each October a committee choses a candidate from a published short list and he or she is elected at the very beginning of the General Assembly which is held in Edinburgh in May.
The role of Moderator of the General Assembly is an honorary one, held for 12 months. Meetings of the General Assembly are chaired by the Moderator, who leads worship, rules on points of order and signs documents on behalf of the Assembly.
After the Assembly, the Moderator generally travels as a Church representative in Scotland, other parts of the United Kingdom and overseas in an ambassadorial capacity. During his Moderatorial year, he or she should be addressed as ‘The Right Reverend’. After the Moderatorial term is over, he or she should be addressed as ‘The Very Reverend’.
Every Moderator carries out a series of visits to several Church of Scotland presbyteries as well as undertaking a number of international tours.
This year's General Assembly takes place in the Assembly Hall at the top of The Mound in Edinburgh from Thursday 20 May to Wednesday 26 May 2010. There is a public gallery.