What did Jimmy Fallon do during his time off from The Tonight Show last week? Apparently he hung out with the King’s royal guard at Balmoral Castle.
Fallon, who was off last week from his NBC show, wound up being the guard’s guest of honor during a solo trip to Scotland. The host recounted the story on social media, explaining that he was alone on vacation. (“My wife is working and the kids are at school,” he noted.)
Before the trip, Fallon had offered to bring a keepsake to Scotland on behalf of his friend Eddie Burns (no, not that Eddie Burns), whose great-grandfather was Scottish. “Give me something of yours,” Fallon recalled telling Burns. “I’ll throw it in the water or bury it somewhere in Scotland, and [your ancestors] will know that you did well… [that their] family moved on and did great stuff.”
Tasked with depositing an NYPD tie clip somewhere in Scotland, Fallon chose to toss it into the River Dee, which runs alongside Balmoral Castle, the British Royal Family’s residence. But moments later, he noticed armed royal guards staring at him.
“We got some law enforcement happening,” Fallon said in a video he recorded for Burns. “I might get arrested for this, Eddie, but it’s worth it. You’re there, bud!”
When the guards approached, Fallon admitted to “a little littering,” but their response was unexpected.
“Are you Jimmy Fallon?” they asked. They declined his invitation to dinner at his hotel, suggesting instead that they host him. The next day, a royal guard delivered an invitation to Fallon’s hotel for a black-tie dinner that evening. After borrowing a kilt from the night manager, Fallon attended the affair—thrown by the Balaklava Company, Fifth Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Dinner included a Scotch egg and Buckfast wine. (“Let’s just say I’m feeling it today,” Fallon admitted.)
The infantry company also presented Fallon with a Glengarry bonnet, and before the night was over, a tailor in attendance had stepped out to make him a custom kilt.
“I was so thankful and touched,” said Fallon. “I’m just so grateful—thankful for everyone being so nice in Scotland.”
“I’m not Scottish. I’m not pretending to be Scottish,” he added. “But I feel like right now, I might be the most Scottish person in Scotland.”
During the trip, Fallon also spent a night aboard the Royal Scotsman luxury train, visited Balmoral Castle, and posed for a photo outside Candacraig, the former estate of comedian Billy Connolly.
As for the Royal Regiment of Scotland, it seems they’re already looking forward to his return.
“It was an absolute pleasure to host you, Jimmy!” the regiment replied to Fallon’s post. “We’ll be sure to keep the bagpipes tuned for your next visit!”
“It’s not every day you get The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon dropping by,” they added in their own post alongside photos of Fallon’s visit. “But when you do, you make sure he gets a proper 5 SCOTS welcome! Kilts, bagpipes, and a good few laughs in the Officers’ Mess made for a night to remember at Victoria Barracks.”
Fallon’s Scotland saga isn’t the only vacation story he’s brought back from abroad. Last year, he was given a ride to his hotel by a stranger and his mother after getting lost in Bavaria. He shared the story online, then later featured the good Samaritans on The Tonight Show.
You can watch Jimmy Fallon tell his full Scotland story in the video at the top of this post.
Did Fuckface Fallon pay you a lot to sit with you?