[MR] BBC: THE Coronation Stone

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today the BBC is offering an illustrated feature story about the Coronation
Stone (aka "The Stone of Scone" or "The Stone of Destiny").

As the Stone of Scone (pronounced like "spoon" by the Scots), this piece of
sandstone was used in the coronation ceremony of many Scottish kings. In
1296, as part of Edward I's attempted conquest of Scotland, the Stone was
looted from Scone Abbey and taken to London. Edward ordered a special
coronation chair to be built in Westminster Abbey which housed the Stone on
a shelf below the seat. Now dubbed "The Coronation Stone" it has been part
of the English coronation ceremony ever since, and a not so subtle reminder
of the English claim to rule Scotland.

Scottish monarchs had to do without the sacred Stone of Scone until James
VI was crowned King James I of England in 1603. But then James became more
English than Scottish, and all the English monarchs since have also been
rulers of Scotland, first as a dual monarchy, and as a united Great Britain
after 1707.

That never sat well with many Scots. On Christmas day in 1950 four
university students with Scottish nationalist leanings snuck into
Westminster Abbey at night and "liberated" the Stone of Scone. In the
process, the Stone was broken in two along a fracture line caused by a
suffragette bomb in 1914. Back in Scotland the Stone of Scone was mended by
a stonemason. A bit later the Stone was placed on the altar at the Ruined
Arbroath Abbey (where the famous Declaration of Arbroath was sealed in
1320) and the police notified. Once again "The Coronation Stone", the rock
was returned to Westminster Abbey. Three of the four students eventually
confessed to the theft, or liberation, of the Stone of Scone. They were not
prosecuted to avoid rousing Scottish nationalist feelings.

Now for more controversy. The Stone of Scone was long believed to have
connections to the Holy Land as "Jacob's Pillow", and then to have been a
coronation stone in Ireland before being taken to Scotland. In fact, the
stone was scientifically proven to have been quarried right near Scone in
Scotland. There is an unsubstantiated legend that the original stone was
hidden (and later lost) by the monks of Scone Abbey, and the current stone
is a fake. Well . . . . Rumors of a duplicate also surfaced after the stone
was "liberated" in 1950. Apparently these claims are false and the Stone is
the real deal. That said, there is a duplicate "Stone of Scone" displayed
at Scone Palace near Perth.

In 1996, the British Government officially returned the Coronation Stone .
. . er . . . The Stone of Scone, to Scotland. It has since been displayed
in Edinburgh Castle as one of the 'Honours of Scotland' (ie. the Scottish
Crown Jewels and regalia). The return had the proviso that the Coronation
Stone would be "borrowed" for any future English coronations. And so it
will return, at some secret time, and by some secret route, in time for
Charles III to be crowned on 6 May.

The BBC story, including views of the Coronation Chair, is at
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230305-the-disputed-history-of-the-coronation-stone
.

More about the Stone of Scone is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_of_Scone .

The Coronation Chair isn't in the best condition right now, but what do you
expect for one of the oldest pieces of furniture in England? So it needs to
be fixed up before Chuck puts his regal bum on the Royal Seat. More about
the Chair's repairs is at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64798077 .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆