1950 removal of the Stone of Scone

The Stone of Scone, the ancient stone upon which Scottish monarchs had been crowned, was taken from Scone near Perth, Scotland, by troops of King Edward I of England (Longshanks) in 1296 during the Scottish Wars of Independence as a spoil of war, kept in Westminster Abbey in London and fitted into King Edward's Chair. English and then British monarchs were crowned sitting upon the chair and Stone. Vernon agreed to participate in the plan along with Kay Matheson and Alan Stuart. ==Removal of the Stone==

In December 1950, a few days before Christmas, the four students from Glasgow drove to London in two Ford Anglias, a journey which took them eighteen hours. On arrival in London they had a brief meeting at a Lyons Corner House and decided to make an immediate attempt at removing the Stone from the Abbey. ==Aftermath==

At the time of the theft, the United Kingdom was a unified nation and devolution towards its constituent nations was not on the political agenda (although Northern Ireland already had a devolved government). The Scottish National Party had received just 0.4% of the vote in Scotland in the 1950 United Kingdom general election, the Labour Party had withdrawn its commitment to devolution, and the Conservative Party was at the high point of its popularity in Scotland. The raid was completely unexpected and gave the cause of Scottish devolution and nationalism a brief sense of prominence in the public conscience throughout the country. The students became notorious for the raid and in Scotland, they became immensely popular. The recovery of the Stone and the students became synonymous with the devolution and nationalist political movements in Scotland from 1950. The incident encouraged a belief in change, and opened discussion on the Union, which had existed since 1707. ==In popular culture==

Film and television • In December 1980 the film The Pinch aired on BBC 2. • In the TV-series Highlander (s5e15) the stone was stolen by Duncan, Fitz, and Amanda. • In 2008, Hamilton's book, The Taking of the Stone of Destiny, was made into a film entitled Stone of Destiny. The film depicted Hamilton (played by Charlie Cox) as the protagonist leading a team of students to reclaim the Stone of Scone. • BBC Alba released an hour-long bilingual (Scottish Gaelic and English) dramatisation of Kay Matheson's (played by Kathleen MacInnes) interrogation by the police. In this version, Matheson pretends to speak only Gaelic. Music The removal of the stone was the subject of a contemporary Scottish Gaelic song by Donald MacIntyre, "Òran na Cloiche" ("The Song of the Stone"). Its return to London was the subject of an accompanying lament, "''Nuair a Chaidh a' Chlach a Thilleadh''" ("When the Stone Was Returned"). The removal was parodied in a song The Wee Magic Stane, written by John McEvoy, to the tune of Villikins and his Dinah. ==See also==