I FIRST heard of the Stone of Destiny while in Arbroath. Although I quite liked the metaphor (this is what I had thought it was) and the alliteration of "st" - "stone", "destiny" - which made it sound like a mini-poem. I was finding it hard to understand how a stone could signify anyone's destiny, unless, of course, it rested in one's kidneys or gall bladder.
I was puzzled even further, when they told me that the Stone of Destiny, on which Scottish kings used to be crowned, was one of Scotland's most important relics - a symbol of its nationhood and sovereignty.
That was how I was introduced to the on-going mystery of the stone's whereabouts putting it on a par with such globally famous enigmas as Atlantis, the Amber Room, thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) and the Loch Ness monster.
I learned that the Stone of Destiny was hidden in Arbroath Abbey for 40 days in 1951, when stolen from Westminster by four determined Scottish youngsters, and that whatever was eventually returned to Westminster and was now displayed in Edinburgh Castle could be a substitute, whereas the stolen boulder, the authenticity of which was in itself more than questionable, could still be concealed somewhere in Arbroath.
What is truly amazing is how much emotion a cold inanimate object can generate. After it was mentioned at the end of my last Monday's column that I was embarking on a "quest" for the Stone of Destiny, several readers sent me their poems, in which the stone was addressed to as a living being ("You've been the butt o' great disgrace,/ While lyin' in yon foreign place,/ An' held the bums o' Albions race,/ Upon your brain ..." and so on - John Carracher of Hamilton). I also received claims that the original stone could still be found: a) somewhere near Scone; b) somewhere not far from Aberfeldy; c) on Dunsinane Hill; d) on the Isle of Skye. Not to count Arbroath, of course.
Wherever the elusive Stone of Destiny could be, a search for it had to begin in Scone - the former capital of Scotland and the only place where the stone was ever used in the capacity it was initially designed for, crowning of Scottish kings.
Piercing screams of Macbeth could be heard from as far as Scone Palace car park. Parading his magnificent tail, he was calling out to Robert de Bruce (or was it to Queen Mary?) across the lawn, on which James I forbade the playing of football in 1494, having imposed a four-pence fine on would-be offenders. James I, by the way, was there, too, strolling self-importantly next to his son, James II, who, following in his father's footsteps, banned golf from the palace grounds.
Football and golf were still taboo in the palace gardens, where peacocks and peahens - all named after Scottish kings and queens - were walking and screaming unhindered. Some members of the palace staff complained that the birds' constant screams were driving them crazy. Could it be that the long-deceased Scottish royals were trying to communicate something to us through their namesakes' almost human-like, cries? For all I knew, it could be their anger at what now rested on historic Moot Hill, outside the medieval chapel, and was intended to pass for "a replica of the Stone of Destiny".
I saw some exalted South American tourists taking photos of each other sitting on top of the replicated - and suspiciously low - stone. To facilitate such photo-opportunities, it was kept above the ground by two stone supports, making it look like some crude caveman's chair.
It was then that the first real doubts about the Edinburgh Castle-based Stone of Destiny crept into my mind. On all surviving depictions of Scottish coronations, the stone rested straight on the ground, with no supports attached - a fact that did not seem to stop the featured kings from sitting in state on it, with grace and dignity. It was simply unimaginable for a king to lower himself on to a stone that was just 11 inches high - such as the one in Edinburgh Castle and its Scone replica. To do that, he would have had to squat in the most un-royal and undignified manner.
Authentic or not, why wasn't the relic itself, rather than its 1980s copy, displayed in Scone, where it historically belonged? Why was the stone dispatched to Edinburgh after its much-publicised return to Scotland from Westminster in 1996?
"We all felt deeply excited in 1996 assuming that the stone was coming home, but it didn't," said Lady Stormont, the daughter-on-law of the Earl of Mansfield, whose family has been living in Scone Palace for nearly 400 years.
On learning of the forthcoming return of the Stone of Destiny to Scotland, Lord Mansfield, together with the provost of Perth and Kinross Council, initiated the petition to Michael Forsyth, then Scottish secretary, asking for the stone to be brought back to Scone and outlining provisions for its security. Fifty-five percent of the local residents supported the move. They were given public assurances that the stone would be displayed at Edinburgh Castle for several months only, after which it would be transferred to its legitimate place in Scone.
"If the stone does end up in Edinburgh, it will mean that money and politics have won over legal and moral argument," said a spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council on October 19, 1996.
As we know now, this is precisely what happened. By returning the relic to Edinburgh, the British government tried to kill two birds with one Stone of Destiny, so to speak: to pacify budding Scottish nationalism and to demonstrate their own magnanimity in the face of it.
A resident of Edinburgh, who witnessed the official ceremony of the stone's return, told me about the tightest ever security around the Royal Mile.
"The army didn't let people near the stone. There was no celebration, and the stone itself looked unhappy."
There was at least one person, however, who did not feel unhappy or disappointed by the stone's return to Edinburgh - historian Morag Norris, archivist of Scone Palace. In her own words, she couldn't care less, for one simple reason: the stone was a fake.
Her version of what happened to the real Stone of Destiny is shared by a number of other historians. It is roughly as follows.
According to early chronicles, the original stone came from a Roman altar and was made of blackish marble. It was much bigger than the existing one, which, as established by geologists, is carved of red sandstone from near Scone itself. When the invading English King Edward I, "the hammer of the Scots", tried to remove the Stone of Destiny (together with other Scottish regalia) in 1296, the defenders of Scone clandestinely substituted it with a plug of a well. On returning to London, Edward started having doubts as to the stone's authenticity. On his orders, the English troops returned to Scone and literally took it apart a year later. They were obviously looking for something.
Having failed to find whatever they were searching for, they captured the Abbot of Scone and brought him to London, where he was put in chains and tortured. The English were probably trying to force him to reveal the stone's whereabouts, but he didn't.
"King John Balliol would have never given up the real Stone of Destiny," said Mrs Norris.
She then showed me an archive copy of the London Morning Chronicle, dated January 2, 1819. The paper reported that a farmworker in "Dunsinane, Scotland", accidentally fell through a shaft, leading to a subterranean vault, where he found a large bronze-engraved rock, fully answering the description of the original - Roman - Stone of Destiny. The find was promptly taken to London for "investigation", and nothing was heard about it ever since.
Mrs Norris's guess was that, confronted with the real thing, King George IV did not like the idea of himself and so many of his predecessors having been crowned with the "wrong" Scottish stone under the British Coronation Chair. It was embarrassing and best forgotten, so he must have ordered the original stone to be tucked away or destroyed.
"Thus the real Stone of Destiny must have mouldered in some civil servant's basement in London", she concluded.
To me, it sounded like good news. It meant that the stone could still be tracked down.
"If the real stone were to turn up, would you have it back in the palace?" I asked Lady Stormont.
"Any time. We know exactly where to keep it," she smiled.
Back in Edinburgh, I coughed up £8.50 and climbed to the very top of the castle to have a look at the alleged Stone of Destiny. The controversial chunk of sandstone looked lonely and incongruous in a glass sarcophagus next to the Crown Jewels. Tourists, filing past the display, spoke in whispers. The narrow sombre room reminded me of the Lenin mausoleum in Moscow: same semi-darkness, same hushed reverence and a dummy under the glass.
"I have a stone pressing on my heart," we used to say in Russia, when preoccupied with a persistent uneasy thought.
The Stone of Destiny pressed heavily on mine as I was walking down the Castle Hill. I suddenly thought that the problem lay not with the stone itself, but with what it was supposed to represent - Scotland's sovereignty. In its absence, the only thing that remained was a never-ending controversy over its symbol.
A legend has it that the real Stone of Destiny will stay hidden until Scotland is ready to face its destiny. As shown by the last week's elections, it will have to wait in hiding for at least another four years. Stones, unlike people, can wait indefinitely - almost for ever.
Next week: Vitali considers buying a Scottish island.
Well first off the stone sits in Edinburgh castle for a good reason. The stone is what kings and queens of Scotland sat on when they crowned king or queen of Scots ( not king or queens of Scotland but of Scots ) and now the stone sits in the castle with the crown jewels it was associated with many years ago.
Like that article pointed out there have been many accusations of where the stone is and what happened to it. Firstly the stone the guy found when he fell through the floor is NOT the stone apparently the date is wrong, the markings are wrong and it does not match the descriptions we have of the stone. There are two stories and one is true either A. the stone in Edinburgh is the original, the students that nicked were making a point and had pissed off the English media, Royal family and politicians while at the same time reigniting the Scottish Independence debate again, they point had been made so they gave the stone back. Also there are doubts about whether you could recreate the stone while at the same time keeping it quiet.
B. The stone is knocking about in Dundee but I can't remember the reason why.
There is also another story that in a way I hope is true and that is that the students took the stone to the isle of Iona and buried it there and the reason why is that Iona is where all Scotland's kings and queens are buried so the stone now lies with those who sat on it.
To tell you truth I don't mind where the stone is as long as it is not under the English throne.
As I remember the Scottish 'Stone of Destiny' it was brought to Scotland by some Egyption princess or something like that and had been used to crown all the kings of Scotland until it was stolen. I thought it was still missing.
But then again I am about as far away from Scotland as you can get while still being on the British Mainland so I dont get much news about the northern lands.
"there's only one way to win a war: shout, shout, and shout again!" - The Duke of Wellington ((Blackadder - Stephen Fry))
The funny thing about the stone is that the tories gave it back as a vote winner so they could get more seats in Scotland and how did Scotland repay them? not one Tory won a seat in Scotland.
05-07-2003 12:08 AM
