Give prince a title that's fit for a king
PETER CLARKE
AMID the torrents of tosh about the Royal wedding, many articles refer to the Prince of Wales’ Scottish rank as Duke of Rothesay. This seems to me to obliterate a more important and poetic title. He is also "Lord of the Isles". Yet this suggests merely a rain-sodden barony, far beneath the dignity of a dukedom. Scotland is missing an opportunity. The title, in Gaelic is Ri Innse Gall. This is best translated as King of the Isles.
This title, I claim, is the oldest extant one in the world, long predating the kingdoms of Scotland and of England. We are forgetting the continuity of Gaeldom. Three factors seem to have diluted our understanding. There was a positive assertion by the Scots kings to crush the Gaelic kinships or bind them to the Crown. They often tried to kill the Ri Innse Gall. In 1499, they succeeded.
The Kings of the Isles often sided with England, to the great irritation of the princes at Edinburgh Castle. Then, Sir Walter Scott invested Gaeldom with so much romance he obscured the real remnants of the Gaelic royal household. He reduced it to little more than a northerly equivalent to Young Lochinvar.
Much of Gaelic history attributes the birth of the term King of the Isles to Somerled in the 12th century. He certainly figures as a martial hero, but he was not assuming the title. It was at least six centuries old by his time.
The investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon was a splendid piece of theatre but the historical integrity is far greater for the Ri Innse Gall, crowned on Islay or at Ardtornish or Dalriada itself. The Welsh term is "Tywysog", recognisable as our Gaelic "Toiseach".
If this is merely Gaelic twilight, I see huge potential in fanning this modest ember back into symbolic life. Charles, who seems to have a soft spot for the Hebrides, might be induced to revive some parts of his poetic inheritance. We often see him in his Balmoral kilt but the Ri Innse Gall knew nothing of this Victorian candyfloss. They wore aketons, quilted coats under chain armour hauberks. They had no skean dhus but more alarming bollock knives. You can see effigies of these lost figures on their grave slabs.
I’m reluctant to reduce this to the banality of tourism promotion but a renewed appreciation that HRH is much more than a mere duke has huge potential. His father may be Duke of Edinburgh, but that is only a modern courtesy. Ri Innse Gall strikes me as the most romantic title on the planet, and the oldest, but we seem to lack the imagination to promote it. I suggest the prince be invited to convene a service later this year. Iona would be perfect, as Finlaggan has been destroyed. When the time comes for William to become the next Tywysog Cymru, we need a friendly jostle to remind him he has a far more ancient title lying unloved and almost forgotten in Scotland.
I rate this notion far more potent than Stones of Destiny.
• Peter Clarke is a writer and broadcaster.
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