Lads, it's a simple shepherd's crook. It's been around for yonks, long before Her Majesty, the Late Queen Empress, ascended the throne. It is a very handy item; in fact it is the national walking stick of Scotland, carried by all sorts of folks-- men, women, farmers, hill walkers, and, yes, lairds and chiefs. It is hardly a "wand of office", and confers no special status upon its owner. No one is going to confuse "Wee Jimmy" in the size 5 bonnet with HRH the Duke of Rothsey simply because he's carrying a stick.

That said, in one regard the cromach is like eagle's feathers in so far as in the far flung corners of the world the Scottish diaspora like to see their chiefs looking, frankly, more Scottish than the Scots. They want to see feathers, and kilts, and plaids, and bonnets, and cromachs. They don't want their chief turning up in wellies, an ancient Barbour jacket, well worn tweeds, deer stalker hat, and toting a cromach, despite the fact that is very likely how a chief really dresses most of the time.

If the cromach is indicative of anything, it is indicative of living in the country, as opposed to living in town, which, when you come to think of it, makes sense. Try getting on the Number 7 bus in Leith waiving around a four-and-a-half-foot-long stick sometime and you'll soon see what I mean. The thing's a damn nuisance.