On St Andrew's Day in 1996, a high level ceremony took place at Edinburgh Castle wherein a 150 kg stone was returned by England under the terms of a peace treaty signed and sealed in the year 1328.
The stone in question will have been used for the coronations of Scotland's kings which is exactly what made it the perfect prize for Longshanks and all his successors, including Queen Elizabeth II, to sit on, inside Westminster Abbey for over 668 years.
Apparently the stone's return was a prerequisite for the so called devolution period which followed, including a return of parliamentary powers and other promissing privileges, sovereignable countries would normally have access to.
For a continental low-lander like me it has always been admirable how an entity like the United Kingdom manages to so vividly carry forward a rich history from dark middle ages, through globalising discoveries and industrialised warfare to this very day. I suppose that simple geography - an island - is an advantegous form of (de-)fence which safeguards traditions on the inside, while keeping undisired enlightments born elsewhere, out.
The Commonwealth continues as an impressive league of nations and many other or former worldy empires eviously wonder how an apparent nice old lady democratically mothers millions of people with a variety of beliefs and backgrounds at great distances, as the supreme head of state or chair, without too much contestation.
I would have liked to see a yes vote in Scotland's referendum, though and I suspect that if international institutions headquartered either east or far west from Britain would have interfered with less drama on the bureacratic consequences of independence and projected a more embracing path as apparently is possible for currenlty less aligned states, a majority of Scots will have found the necessary comfort to vote otherwise.
Especially the EU Commission and Parliament have given us a taste of the level of clumsiness we may expect when the time comes wherein populations find victories in becoming more influential into the regions they are most concerned with. Just picture an elephant trying to stand still long enough in a porcelaine store.
The British Crown and its House of Commons have been wise to allow the Scots to have their referendum. Possibly more (symbolic) powers will have to be returned than a majority of MP's in London would have betted on two years ago, but at least a disruption will not take place on their shift and the union is good for another 10 years (and not an entire generation as hinted by England's Prime Minister.
I guess much will depend on what a Prince of Wales or Duque of Cambridge intend to do with a certain stone.
