Can I wear my wife's family too?

[Dale Seago]

Suppose Bonnie Prince Charlie had won. Suppose this return of the Stuart dynasty had ushered in an era of unimaginable prosperity for Scotland.

Suppose monkeys might fly out of. . .

. . .Well, never mind that.

I've always been sentimentally and romantically attracted to the idea of the Restoration of the Rightful King and the Stuart line. "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" is one of my favorite songs. A fond dream.

But with the benefit of hindsight, alas, it appears to me on waking up in the morning that had Tearlach won the throne after all it would have been at least as much of a short-term disaster to Scotland and her people as what actually occurred.

Given the choice of Hanoverians or Stuarts, Scotland was well and truly over a barrel.

The "revival" of the kilt had very little to do with the repeal of the Act of Proscription, and everything to do with Sir Walter Scott making a romantic vision of the Highlands popular, and Queen Victoria making all things Scottish suddenly fashionable.

Yep.