Great story about Queen Victoria, Chris, but as Bear said there's a lot of misinformation out there about the kilt and regretably I think this is one of them!

When the Gaels first came to Scotland they wore firstly the leine and then subsequently the great kilt followed by the little kilt, and there is plenty of documentary evidence, both pictorial and old writings, dating back to pre 1600 which clearly show all three garments were worn about 2-6ins above the knee up to the time of proscription. Before Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837) the kilt and tartans were firmly re-established and pre-Victoria pictures show that the length had settled at about top of kneecap level. During Victoria's reign photographs, a much more accurate method of making pictorial records, began to appear and some of these early photos taken of the royal court, including the faithful John Brown, show kilt wearers with knees clearly on display!

Of much more interest (and I hope you're not too bored with all this!), is why of all the Gaelic groups only the Scots went from the leine to the kilt, all the other known main groups (Irish, Welsh, Manx) going from the leine to trousers.