Scott-Land by Stuart Kelly

Author:Stuart Kelly [Stuart Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857900210
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 2011-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

As a teenager, I remember a local stonemason, a Second World War Polish refugee named Eddie Laub, holding forth in one of the local bars in Lilliesleaf (where every young man, then, had to have their feet dipped in paint and imprinted on the ceiling the night before their wedding) that he had been one of the forgers. He certainly did sculpt the stone that stands on the bleak Carter Bar border road between England and Scotland, and he was the kind of man whose eyes always twinkled at getting one over on authority. I would like to think that he did participate in the hoax.

Nobody dreamed of stealing back the crown jewels of Scotland. The stories of the Stone of Scone though are the kind of yarns a postmodern Walter Scott would adore: if all the later myths are true, then it’s a forgery of a forgery now sitting in Edinburgh. The Stone’s capacity to foment dispute and generate narratives is undiminished. As part of the deal for its return, it must go back to Westminster for the next coronation. When Charles III or William V or Arthur II or Harry IX comes to the throne, there is no guarantee that the future administration will abide by the agreement. When Elizabeth II oversaw the reopening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, she did not wear the Regalia; they were toured up the Royal Mile a few hours before her. Indeed, Winston Churchill was adamant that when she visited in 1953, she must not actually wear the Regalia, as this might be considered as a second coronation in a separate country. Since its re-presentation, no monarch has actually worn the Regalia.

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