Prince Charles in Orkney

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

An acquaintance of mine once had luncheon with HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. At the end of the meal Prince Philip escorted his guest to the private entrance of the palace where a Rolls-Royce limousine, resplendent in glossy back with deep burgundy sides, was parked, the door held open by the waiting chauffeur.

"Your car?" asked HRH.

"Yes," came the somewhat proud reply.

"Hmm," said the Prince. "Our colours."

Even though there may be no restrictions, I rather doubt it would be "good form" to wear either the Rothesay or Prince of Wales tartan.

[Mrs. Farlander]

Hmmm, hose match the kilt. I'll have to keep that in mind when I make the next pair.

[O'Callaghan]

An acquaintance of mine once had luncheon with HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. At the end of the meal Prince Philip escorted his guest to the private entrance of the palace where a Rolls-Royce limousine, resplendent in glossy back with deep burgundy sides, was parked, the door held open by the waiting chauffeur.

"Your car?" asked HRH.

"Yes," came the somewhat proud reply.

"Hmm," said the Prince. "Our colours."

Even though there may be no restrictions, I rather doubt it would be "good form" to wear either the Rothesay or Prince of Wales tartan.

I've met him myself, you know, also in Buckingham Palace, a long time ago. We had to park my mum's Mini on The Mall, though! True.

ETA: I mean Prince Phillip, of course. I've never met Prince Charles.

As for the Tartan that Prince Charles is wearing, from the official register, it looks like 1845 Duke of Rothesay, but it says that is also the STA number, and yet the Tartan Ferret says there is no STA number 1845, although it looks like their number 1805 Duke of Rothesay Hunting (the tartan name already posted).

[Nick the DSM]

No white hose?!

[Colonel MacNeal]

I've met him myself, you know, also in Buckingham Palace, a long time ago. We had to park my mum's Mini on The Mall, though! True.

ETA: I mean Prince Phillip, of course. I've never met Prince Charles.

As for the Tartan that Prince Charles is wearing, from the official register, it looks like 1845 Duke of Rothesay, but it says that is also the STA number, and yet the Tartan Ferret says there is no STA number 1845, although it looks like their number 1805 Duke of Rothesay Hunting (the tartan name already posted).

Except it lacks the alterating singles and triples of the white line.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

As for the Tartan that Prince Charles is wearing, from the official register, it looks like 1845 Duke of Rothesay, but it says that is also the STA number, and yet the Tartan Ferret says there is no STA number 1845, although it looks like their number 1805 Duke of Rothesay Hunting (the tartan name already posted).

Just as a point of clarification, not every tartan in the International Tartan Index (the STA database) is listed on their web site, so while 1845 may not show up in a web search, it is in their master database.

(As an aside, expect to see a major update of the STA site soon, with some killer tartan graphics from what I hear tell...)

Back to the tartan HRH is wearing, however. I would very much be inclined to assume he is wearing the correct Rothesay Hunting sett, and not the "Prince of Wales" tartan that -- as someone has already pointed out -- originated in a weaving error of Rothesay Htg.

The triple white lines in the Rothesay sett are often woven rather close together, and in the very small image we are looking at here, I am not surprised that we cannot distinguish them and they look like one thick line. Plus, in the "Prince of Wales" version of this tartan, every occurance of the the white lines is a triple, as opposed to Rothesay, where every other is a single.

To illustrate:
Rothesay Htg
Prince of Wales

As for how restricted the tartan is, without discounting Rathdown's advice in the least, I would suggest that it might not be as restricted as other Royal tartans are -- for instance, the Balmoral.

The Hunting sett is based on the red Rothesay tartan, which was originally worn by the Sobieski-Stuarts, who called it "Prince of Rothesay." Later it was worn by Edward IV, and the STA notes say it was "originally classified as a Royal tartan." This use of the word "originally" plus the fact that they have this tartan recorded under the name "Rothesay" and not "Duke of Rothesay" certainly suggests that a much wider useage of the tartan may be considered acceptible today, at least by some. They have it classed as "Clan/Family."

On the other hand, the Hunting version of this tartan, that HRH is wearing here, is classed as "District" in the ITI. The STA notes here say, "This is also worn by Prince Charles but retains its original name of Rothesay Htg and is not referred to as 'The Duke of Rothesay.'"

Now, does HRH consider this a personal or restricted Royal tartan? I cannot say. It may very well be the case. (Remember, though, that not every tartan the Prince wears is a "Royal" tartan -- he wears Hunting Stewart quite a bit).

But I will say that if one wants to wear this tartan, it is produced, stocked, and sold by most of the tartan mills, including Lochcarron, House of Edgar, Ingles Buchan, etc, and is available to the public. The same cannot be said for more restricted tartans such as the Balmoral.

In fact, if anyone is interested, I happen to have a neck tie in this tartan in our gift shop that I ordered by accadent!