Kilts swinging in the continental corridors of power

[kilted scholar]

I'm not sure whether this has been mentioned before; a search came up blank.

David McAllister gave a speech at the Caledonian Club in London recently. You can find out about it on the club web site, in the section on the club magazine, winter 2013. Not surprisingly he was wearing a kilt. Nor would it be particularly newsworthy that he wore the kilt at his wedding or proposed to his future wife at Loch Ness.

What is perhaps more unusual is that he was Prime Minister of Lower Saxony from 2010-13, and is thought by some commentators to be a possible future Chancellor of Germany. In his early forties, his father was a British civil servant based in Berlin, while his mother is German. He was taught in a British school in his early years, was a regular reader of Oor Wullie, and supports Rangers. If he did reach the highest office I imagine he would be the first German Chancellor to hold a British passport and the first to wear the kilt.

[Nathan]

http://www.caledonianclub.com/magazi...winter-2013-2/

[McClef]

I searched and found him quite easily. Not heard of him before though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McAllister

People of Scots descent do appear in high places such as one of Napoleon's Marshals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_MacDonald though I doubt he was ever kilted.

And many Scots ended up Imperial Russia but again not kilted.

We will now no doubt watch his career with interest.

[Mael Coluim]

..............
And many Scots ended up Imperial Russia but again not kilted.

.........

Indeed Trefor, as with the Scot John Paul who added the name Jones to his while settling his dead brother's affairs in Fredericksburg, VA during our Colonial era. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones

[Nathan]

I searched and found him quite easily. Not heard of him before though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McAllister

People of Scots descent do appear in high places such as one of Napoleon's Marshals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_MacDonald though I doubt he was ever kilted.

And many Scots ended up Imperial Russia but again not kilted.

We will now no doubt watch his career with interest.

Up Clan Donald!

[TheOfficialBren]

Jean - Baptiste Colbert, finance minister to King Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, was of Scots descent.

Edited to add: the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, originally found in the part of the Kingdom of Northumbria that is now Galloway and the "t" is pronounced. The silent "t" is a French affectation that developed over time. We pronounce the "t" in our family.

[John_Carrick]

Mrs Merkel is certainly wearing the trousers at present!

[Singlemalt]

One of my favourite bits of historical trivia is that at the conclusion of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham which decided the end of French rule in North America a Scot surrendered to a Scot. Both the British General Wolfe and the French commander Montcalm were wounded and would later die. The British second in command was General Murray and the French #2 was a Ramsay the son of a Scottish Rebel who had fled to France. Murray accepted Ramsay's surrender. Ever since that date the Scots have really ruled Canada quietly without either the French or English really understanding we were doing it.

[Father Bill]

And a darned good thing, at that!

[tpa]

http://www.caledonianclub.com/magazi...winter-2013-2/

Thank you for posting that, I had a look at the Caledonian Club site, having attended a Burns supper there and finding it a little cramped (though the club infrastructure was fine,) I found it quite interesting that for a Scottish club, the one missing item was the cost of joining and ongoing membership. I know they say it is not just a commercial decision and may argue that if you have to ask you cannot afford it. However it is not in a Scot's nature to commit to something without any idea of the cost, commercial decision or not; so for a Scottish organisation not to mention it strikes me as a little out of character.