Paul Workman: Scottish independence and a King’s love of country collide in coronation

The King, Queen wave from Buckingham balcony King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to supports from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

EDINBURGH, Scotland — The Balmoral tartan is a multiple windowpane of greys and blacks with streaks of red and white criss-crossing through it. Compared to the dazzling greens and blues and bright Stuart reds of other tartans, the Balmoral is rather stark and dull.

The story behind it, however, is far more interesting.

In 1848, Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert leased a property in Scotland. More than a property, this was a grand rural estate of grouse moors and woodlands, hilly climbs and productive farmland. Balmoral Castle.

By the time they bought it four years later, Albert had already designed the namesake tartan, inspired by the rough-hewn granite of the Aberdeen countryside. The only people allowed to wear it were members of the royal family, and with one exception, the sovereign’s piper.

Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle at 3:10 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2022. Just days earlier she had been photographed wearing a Balmoral tartan skirt. Her son wore a kilt at her lying in state.

The late Queen loved Scotland and Scotland appeared to love her back. She was almost universally popular in a way that her son may never be. And for the King, that’s a huge disadvantage as he struggles to keep the monarchy relevant, and the United Kingdom together.

Supporters of Scottish independence see this as a moment of great opportunity, though based more on hope than a seismic and traceable shift in public opinion.

A young man drinking a beer outside the King’s Wark pub in Edinburgh offered an assessment of the new king, using just a dozen or so words to sum him up.

“I think with Queen Elizabeth, you had ties to like your grandparents and things like that. They loved Queen Elizabeth. I don't think he's got the same kind of charm. Yeah.”

Charm? But he does wear tartan and people in Scotland notice that and appreciate what it means. Ian Sim, inside the King’s Wark tending to the bar, says it could help the King in Scotland.

“I think he does as much as he can. You know, he certainly wears a kilt,” he says. “It shows love of the country and stuff like that.”

Alan MacDonald, with his pretty view of the River Tay from his office, lectures in history at the University of Dundee.

“You know, when he was Prince of Wales, he always wore the kilt when he was in Scotland. It will be interesting to see what he does as king.”

The professor sees evidence of creeping disenchantment with the monarchy, even under Queen Elizabeth II, but no sudden explosion of support for republicanism.

“Even the places in the United Kingdom where the monarchy is least popular,” he says, “it is still the favourite option.”

King Charles I was beheaded. King Charles II was forced into exile for a decade before the monarchy was restored. And what of King Charles III?

“It's always going to be problematic and tricky to make a stamp, to make a mark, when you're in your 70s when you get the gig,” MacDonald says. “All you can do is be yourself, I suppose, which sounds really trite, but I don't think there is the opportunity to be the same sort of monarch his mother was.”

Perhaps the most famous stalwart of Scotland’s independence movement is Alex Salmond, who brought the country to the brink of separation in 2014. He’s been up and down politically, struggling now to regain a measure of influence, but as committed as ever to the cause of his life.

“Charles's love of Scotland is genuine,” he told me, looking towards the North Sea in the fishing town of Johnshaven. Minutes before that, he was clutching a big, blue lobster in his right hand.

“I have nothing against Charles personally. I think he's pursued many great causes. I just think in the 21st century, if you're starting a new state, you should start it from Democratic principles.”

Salmond’s vision of independence is a country that still retains the monarchy as head of state, much like Canada. That differs from the current Scottish leader, Hamza Yusuf, who’s an avowed republican. “I am a citizen,” he has declared, “not a royal subject.”

To an Alex Salmond prediction, then, about a king he knows and likes, from a man who came close to delivering independence, though close, of course, is the same as failure.

“I think he'll certainly be the last King of Scots for a while. I think Scotland will become independent, will move to an elected head of state,” Salmond says.

There’s more. He’s far from finished.

“And at some stage certainly the Canadians, certainly the Australians, certainly the New Zealanders, but even the English might say, look, is this really the way we should conduct our affairs?”

He did attend the King’s accession ceremony in London, but he will not be going to the coronation.

Instead he’ll be delivering a speech on Scottish independence in Glasgow.