Assume that Scotland becomes independent and decides to remain a monarchy, but in order to better distinguish itself from the rump UK, decides not to keep Elizabeth II as its monarch. To whom are they most likely to offer the throne?
Since Elizabeth II would have been the legitimate Queen of Scotland anyway (had England and Scotland not united back in 1707), I think it’s most likely they’d offer the throne to the first person in her line of succession with greater ties to Scotland than to anywhere else. That is, the most senior member of the royal family who is considered culturally Scottish and who normally resides in Scotland. Who would that be?
A less likely but still justifiable choice would be Franz, Duke of Bavaria, who as heir to Charles I of Scotland is the current Jacobite pretender to the Scottish throne. Crowning him king (Francis I of Scotland?) probably wouldn’t make the most sense from the point of view of promoting the Scottish character, but on the other hand he does have the trappings of royalty and installing foreign monarchs is nothing new in Europe or indeed in the British Isles. Has Franz historically voiced any monarchist aspirations?
Are there any other candidates who have a hereditary claim to the throne and whom the Scottish parliament would seriously consider in this scenario?
Scotland will never be really independent,it will be as independent as both germanies during the cold war,in other words on paper yes,but in reality uk will still pull all the strings,so its totally irrelevant who will be the leader.
Not according to the parameters of my question it isn’t. I am well aware that the prospects of Scotland replacing Liz are remote at best. However, I hoped it would be an entertaining intellectual exercise to consider the scenario. If we take it as given that Liz is to be chucked out, then identifying those individuals with the best claim to replace her is probably slightly more GQ than IMHO, though if a moderator feels otherwise they are of course free to move this thread. (I would hope that they would at least wait until the factual questions in the second two paragraphs of my OP have been answered.)
Sorry, even with those two paragraphs, it’s still Liz. She lives in Scotland for about a third of the year (Balmoral is an official royal residence, along with Windsor and Buck Palace) and her mother was born and grew up in Scotland of partially Scottish parentage. That’s more Scottish than any other royal.
If you reset succession laws in Scotland and go back to the law as it was right before the union, the legitimate successor is any protestant descendant of a king of Scotland, as chosen by the Parliament of Scotland. So they didn’t even know who the next monarch was supposed to be then, let alone in this hypothetical.
Okay, I’ll play. To begin, I think you would struggle to find a member of the royal family who resides in Scotland as their primary residence. If that’s the criteria, then you might need to opt for a non-Royal Scottish Duke, such as the Duke of Hamilton, the senior Peer in Scotland.
Prince Charles is the Duke of Rothesay, his official title in Scotland, which is also the title traditionally given to heirs to the Scottish throne (pre-Union). And he’s got a holiday home bear Balmoral, so there’s that. He is also Lord of the Isles, an old MacDonald family title. But wait, there’s more! His other Scottish titles include Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew and… drum roll… Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Which must count for something.
If these titles don’t swing it, perhaps you’d like someone with a more emotional attachment to Scotland, in which case I vote for his sister, Princess Anne, who is the proud and long standing Patron of the Scottish Rugby team, and belts out ‘Flower of Scotland’ with the best of them when they play England, and keeps her lips buttoned when they play ‘God Save the Queen’. Doubly loyal when you recall her son-in-law is an England rugby international.
Seconding Princess Anne, although I’m not sure how interested her son Peter (12th in line to the throne) would be in succeeding her, as he seems to have a regular job and keeps a very low profile.
As has been said, the current Scottish plan is to keep the Queen.
However the above post is an interesting hypothetical.
I don’t think the Scots would settle for a ‘non-Royal’ Duke. There’s also quite a history of conflict between Scottish clans, so that might be a hiccup.
Prince Charles has a lot of titles, but since Prince of Wales is his main one, I can’t see the Scots liking that.
(Also he’s a twit.)
Now Princess Anne is an accomplished athlete (horse riding), having won a European title and competed in the Olympics. She is also not a twit.
An excellent choice by SanVito.
Just nitpickery, but Balmoral is a private estate - the official residence in Scotland is the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. They do spend far more time at Balmoral though.
I must admit I’d assumed the Scottish Nationalists were republicans, but apparently it’s only their youth/student wings which are non-monarchist. I suspect there are republican tendencies but that getting an independent nation comes first.
Which two Garmanys are you talking about? There were three. DBR, DDR, and Berlin, the latter consisting of the three Berlin zones occupied by France, UK and USA, which had a separate Bundestag, which in effect rubber-stamped all the actions of the DBR. Berlin was a puppet in every sense of the word, but still an independent entity with its own separate governing and administrative body. It is then Berlin, that would be more or less equivalent to Scotland. DDR was Germany in name only – a completely separate state, not beholden to anything that the DBR did. DBR pulled no stings at all in DDR, directly.
By gum, you’re right, although the BBC and some other reliable sources seem to share my confusion - there must be a reason for that.
Still, she has an official residence in Scotland, and she spends about a third of the year in another Scottish royal residence. Plus the other stuff I mentioned. She has the best claim to be the Scottish Queen. Definitely more than a German prince who may never even have visited the country. Not that that prevented George I becoming King.
I think everyone in this thread is ignoring them on the premise that Scots would probably like someone who is at least Scottish, or has a recent connection with Scotland, rather than some obscure German.
Considering the entire line has been exogamous since the eleventh century with only a handful of exceptions, saying they don’t want “a German” is a bit rich.
Failing a Stuart, I would like to see a Gaelic-speaking king. They haven’t had one of those since the Middle Ages, and it’s about time.
Charles and William remain the heir and the spare for England.
Harry gets crowned monarch of an independent Wales.
Andrew gets crowned King of Northern Ireland. He understands that his throne is destined to be short-lived. So he converts to Roman Catholicism, with the sole purpose of infuriating everybody in Ireland.
