When The Queen and The First Minister send you birthday messages, you know you’re important. To that end, everyone here at Stripe would like to wish The Scotsman a happy 200th birthday.

Founded on the 25th January 1817 by William Ritchie and Charles Maclaren under the guiding principles of “impartiality, firmness and independence”, today The Scotsman printed its 53,220th edition and has become a feature of everyday life in Scotland over two centuries.

As this morning’s copy of the first edition arrived in the office, the Stripe team gathered to marvel at the ten penny price tag, the lack of pictures and to find out just how the proposals for new silver coinage were progressing.

In the words of The Queen: “The paper’s journey has mirrored that of Scotland as a whole, and I look forward to it continuing to report, scrutinise and commentate as the nation looks to tackle the challenges that lie ahead”.

We couldn’t agree more. Happy Birthday to The Scotsman, congratulations on a remarkable achievement, here’s to two hundred more!