One of the better known of these was the arrangement for James the fourth of Scotland to marry the sister of King Henry the eighth of England which could perhaps lead to a unified crown. However, all did not go to plan and the French, who have always had a good rapport with the Scots, asked James to try to distract Henry from his interest in conquering Europe. The resulting battle was a disaster for the Scots.
Years later James the fifth’s daughter, Mary Queen of Scots inherited the crown, but as a Catholic she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son, James the sixth and eventually she threw herself on the mercy of her cousin Elizabeth. A series of events, often inaccurately portrayed by Hollywood, resulted in her execution.
When Elizabeth I of England died childless, James the sixth of Scotland inherited the English crown to accompany that of Scotland. This was the unification of the crown and he became known as James the sixth and first.
When he decided to rule from England, effectively he gave Scotland to a greater Britain on a plate. Scotland’s own king had surrendered its hard fought Independence. Robert the Bruce would have turned over in his grave!
King James’ grandson, James the seventh of Scotland and second of England converted to Catholicism and this threw protestant England into a panic. James’ daughter, Mary, and her husband, the protestant William of Orange, were invited to invade and James was overthrown. From the Latin for James, Jacobus, his supporters became the Jacobites.
Uprisings failed in 1689, 1715, 1717 and by his grandson, Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746 when he was defeated t the battle of Culloden.
In 2014 there was a referendum to see if Scotland would like to separate from the rest of Britain. It was defeated by a very small margin. Some think it might be proposed again and that it was strange for a country to turn down its own independence. Others prefer the union for stability.
All we can say on the Royal Scot is “Watch This Space!”