Stone Of Destiny

On St. Andrew’s Day, 30th of November, 1996, 10,000 cheering Scots lined Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to watch as soldiers and dignitaries escorted a drab box-shaped sandstone slab from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle. Once inside the castle, the stone was ceremoniously set on a primitive oak table before the grand fireplace of the early 16th century Great Hall. Outside, under a bright winter sun and clear blue skies, a 21-gun salute was echoed by HMS Newcastle lying anchored off Leith harbour.

The Stone of Destiny, the legendary coronation stone of Scottish Kings and Queens, was finally back home and at rest, 700 years after English King Edward I had carried it off to England. A symbol of Scottish independence, the stone holds an enigmatic power that rallies the sentiment of Scots 'round the world.

For seven centuries, the English jealously guarded the stone in order to keep Scotland under their control, but in 1950, one young man had a dream of Scottish independence…