Tartans that non-clan/non-scot can wear

**Steve Ashton** · 10th June 17, 02:34 PM

The Scottish Register of Tartan has this to say about the Royal Stewart/Stuart Tartan.

They date this Tartan to 1800.

This started life as a 'Royal' tartan - that of the Royal House of Stuart - and theoretically the personal tartan of the reigning monarch. Over the years however it became so popular and was so widely worn by all and sundry that it is now regarded as a Universal tartan (i.e. can be worn by anyone who has no clan tartan.) In their 1850 book 'The Clan and Family Tartans of Scotland' W and A Smith of Mauchline wrote: 'The Stuart tartan here given is that for which many years has been universally believed in Scotland to be the Tartan worn by our Scottish Sovereigns. Sometimes it is woven with a small stripe of green, bisecting the broad red belt; but we know that this green stripe is a modern innovation, and therefore we exclude it having the best authority for doing so.' The green line version is probably Stewart of Rothesay at #848 and the Vestiarium entry at #846 (original Scottish Tartans Authority references). Theoretically this cannot be used or worn without the express permission of HM The Queen. In pratice however, this is the most popular tartan ever woven and can be seen on a huge range of products. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle so the theory rather evaporates. The pattern was first published by James Logan in his book, 'The Scottish Gael' in 1831, but references indicate that the sett was known at the end of the 18th century and it was reputed to have been worn by one of Bonnie Prince Charlie's followers in the 1745 rebellion. Early samples show blue as a light 'azure'. The best known of all Scottish tartans, the Royal Stewart is the tartan of the Royal House of Stewart and the personal tartan of Her Majesty the Queen. In the same way that clansmen wear the tartan of their chief, it is appropriate for all subjects of the Queen to wear the Royal Stewart tartan.

**figheadair** · 10th June 17, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Ashton

The Scottish Register of Tartan has this to say about the Royal Stewart/Stuart Tartan.

They date this Tartan to 1800.

This started life as a 'Royal' tartan - that of the Royal House of Stuart - and theoretically the personal tartan of the reigning monarch. Over the years however it became so popular and was so widely worn by all and sundry that it is now regarded as a Universal tartan (i.e. can be worn by anyone who has no clan tartan.) In their 1850 book 'The Clan and Family Tartans of Scotland' W and A Smith of Mauchline wrote: 'The Stuart tartan here given is that for which many years has been universally believed in Scotland to be the Tartan worn by our Scottish Sovereigns. Sometimes it is woven with a small stripe of green, bisecting the broad red belt; but we know that this green stripe is a modern innovation, and therefore we exclude it having the best authority for doing so.' The green line version is probably Stewart of Rothesay at #848 and the Vestiarium entry at #846 (original Scottish Tartans Authority references). Theoretically this cannot be used or worn without the express permission of HM The Queen. In pratice however, this is the most popular tartan ever woven and can be seen on a huge range of products. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle so the theory rather evaporates. The pattern was first published by James Logan in his book, 'The Scottish Gael' in 1831, but references indicate that the sett was known at the end of the 18th century and it was reputed to have been worn by one of Bonnie Prince Charlie's followers in the 1745 rebellion. Early samples show blue as a light 'azure'. The best known of all Scottish tartans, the Royal Stewart is the tartan of the Royal House of Stewart and the personal tartan of Her Majesty the Queen. In the same way that clansmen wear the tartan of their chief, it is appropriate for all subjects of the Queen to wear the Royal Stewart tartan.

The SRT record came from the STA's data but there's one important caveat the didn't make the transition - see bold text: ' This started life allegedly as a 'Royal' tartan - that of the Royal House of Stuart - and theoretically the personal tartan of the reigning monarch.'

One of the major issues with both databases is that they were put on line without any academic checks and as a result both contain a lot of erroneous data. In this particular case the record contains a number of errors and inaccuracies. I don’t know who wrote it but have my suspicions.

Originally Posted by DragonCeltic

Hi to all, excuse my English
I live in Scotland and I am Italian, in Italy it is said that Bonnie Prince Charlie, before dying in the Vatican, gave the Italians permission to wear the royal stewart tartan

This story tells at school, online blogs and even Wikipedia

Some say that at that time Bonnie Prince Charlie extended the possibility only to the kingdom of Sardinia, (and now being Sardinian Italian to all Italians)

Now I would like to know is it true? Some Kiltmakers in Scotland know this story, but they can not tell me if it's true
can you help me? I would like to wear it for the baptism of my son William

There are a number of myths surround Prince Charles Edward’s time in and association with Scotland. He certainly wore tartan whilst he was here and is said to have had a tartan suit as a child. However, that is not the same as saying that he knew anything about the material and he certainly didn’t own the rights to any pattern, no-one did in the mid-18th century.

The tartan has been called Royal Stewart from the late 18th century which was when tartans were being to be named after clans, people and places. The design is related to Prince Charles Edward tartan (discussed here) and both versions are known from 18th century specimens but crucially, there is no evidence that either was ever actually worn by the Prince. Writing of the PCE version in their 1850 book The Clan and Family Tartans of Scotland the Smiths of Mauchline wrote: “Our reason for giving this, is, that it is copied from the identical coat worn by the young Chevalier when in this country, and which is in the possession of a gentleman of high respectability in Edinburgh, who has distinguished himself by a work upon the 'Highlanders of Scotland.'' I know of only two surviving coats that are said to have been worn by the Prince and neither of them is this design or the Royal Stewart although one has elements of the basic design and could have been mistaken by someone that didn’t fully understand the differences.

George V is said to have regarded the Royal Stewart as a ‘royal’ design and so wanted it restricted for use by the Royal Household. Unfortunately for him the pattern had been widely produced and used for over a 150 years and restricting it was impractical. Instead he settled on restricting the use of the Balmoral tartan but that’s another story.

With very few exceptions there is no such thing as a ‘right to wear a particular tartan’ and even those that are restricted can only be done so on a voluntary basis. As such there is no reason why you should not wear the tartan for your son’s christening if you wish. Alternatively, you might with to wear one of the tartans recently designed for Scottish Italians.

**OC Richard** · 11th June 17, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by McMurdo

Below from wikipedia

Officially, the tartan is worn by the pipers of the Black Watch, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, and the Scots Guards, as well as a select few civilian groups.

Ah, Wikipedia. Ya gotta love it.

Of course now we have had all sorts of contractions and amalgamations in the army, but prior to the creation of The Royal Regiment Of Scotland, Royal Stewart was worn by the pipers of:

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Scots Guards
The Royal Scots
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers
The Black Watch

and The Queens Own Cameron Highlanders (1943-1961)

And I wonder what Wiki means by "a select few civilian groups". Royal Stewart used to be perhaps the most popular tartans worn by civilian pipe bands the world over.

**McMurdo** · 11th June 17, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Ah, Wikipedia. Ya gotta love it.

Of course now we have had all sorts of contractions and amalgamations in the army, but prior to the creation of The Royal Regiment Of Scotland, Royal Stewart was worn by the pipers of:

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Scots Guards
The Royal Scots
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers
The Black Watch

and The Queens Own Cameron Highlanders (1943-1961)

And I wonder what Wiki means by "a select few civilian groups". Royal Stewart used to be perhaps the most popular tartans worn by civilian pipe bands the world over.

Aye, perhaps not the best source. Sorry about that. Of course as subjects of her majesty anyone in the Commonwealth has the right to wear the Royal Stewart.

**DragonCeltic** · 11th June 17, 01:38 PM

Thanks a lot for the answers and the links
All very interesting!

If he does not offend anyone is ok

**MacKenzie** · 15th June 17, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Here's an example of a flag-based tartan, the Declaration tartan, that I think is successful. Now I haven't seen it in person, and I usually don't care for colour-schemes like this, but for whatever reason I like it. It's a tartan anyone can wear, I assume. (I do wonder how much of that tartan was ever sold.)

Perhaps a bit off topic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLkqZ0KHFfI

Wouldn't have been my preference, but it's interesting.