Quote Originally Posted by Galb View Post
From Wiki:
Originally a variation on the Stewart of Galloway clan tartan, and as such a bona fide Stewart tartan, it was favoured by the Royal Family, wherefore many people consider it a Royal tartan. For this reason, it became a much sought-after tartan with the Highland regiments; and this, again, led to its present-day popularity, where it functions, for all practical purposes, as THE Scottish Tartan, being used with everything for shortbread boxes to mugs and miniskirts. Queen Anne, foreseeing this development, remedied it once and for all by affirming that the British sovereign was to be considered clan chief of all Britons - English, Scots, Welsh and Irish - and that every (loyal) British subject therefore had the right to display her/his allegiance to the clan chief by wearing the clan tartan of the United Kingdom The Royal Stewart.

So there you have it in regards to the Royal Stewart Tartan, which the Black is derived from, so I think it is safe to say that both tartans are "safe" and "unrestricted" or "universal". ;)

Sorry to bump a two year old thread, but I noticed this when I was doing my own search.
lol, i just read that the other night