Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

JENNY HJUL: Will Prince William’s anger over Diana death harm his chance of saving the Union?

Prince William addresses the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Prince William addresses the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Wheeling out William and Kate in Scotland this week was a shrewd idea, whether it was a deliberate ploy to boost the Union, as has been suggested, or not.

The couple are covering a lot of ground, from the Borders to Lanarkshire, from Edinburgh to Orkney, and taking in St Andrews, where they met and fell in love 20 years ago.

The fact that they have such a strong Scottish back story makes them the ideal royals to despatch north when Scots need reminding what binds the United Kingdom together.

The Duke of Cambridge – known as the Earl of Strathearn when he’s in Scotland – spoke to church leaders at the start of the tour about how this country was at the heart of some of his happiest and bleakest memories.

As well as meeting his future wife in Scotland, it was also where, during the traditional Deeside holiday in August 1997, he heard the news of his mother’s death.

His speech, at the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, was touching and showed what a prize ambassador for his family, and for Britain, Prince William can be.

William and Kate on a visit to St Andrews, where they met as students.

In the wake of an election that secured five more years of Scottish Nationalist bellyaching about independence, now is a good time to play the Windsor card, which still resonates with the majority here.

For all the muttering during the recent swearing in of MSPs about Scots being citizens not subjects, all Scottish parliamentarians in the end pledged their ‘true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’.

The appetite for a republic never really takes off in Scotland, despite a political undercurrent of anti-monarchism, from the Greens in particular.

William and Kate popular with Scots

The SNP’s official position in the referendum seven years ago was to retain the Queen as head of state in an independent Scotland, and there was no mention of the issue in the party’s election manifesto.

The separatists, logically, should be republicans but they fear scaring the horses; while Scots tend to be slightly less enamoured of the royals than the rest of the UK, consistent polling has found that more people support the monarchy than want to abolish it.

Affection for the Queen runs deepest among Britons but William and Kate have been placed second and third in recent polls.

The royal couple on a visit to V&A Dundee.

Their popularity clearly unsettles Nicola Sturgeon, who struggled to conceal her irritation the last time the pair travelled north of the border.

That was in December last year when Covid gave the Nationalists a convenient excuse to object to any royal visit, even a working trip that was within the rules.

The First Minister’s petulance – she said she had made the royal household aware of her cross-border travel ban – was less about the pandemic than the high-profile presence on her turf of so British an institution.

Queen’s intervention was key

She witnessed in 2014 how big a gun the royals could be for the Union when the Queen was believed to have intervened on its behalf.

‘I hope everybody thinks very carefully about the future,’ she said to crowds outside Craithie Kirk, near Balmoral, days before the vote that dashed the separatist dream.

This week, HM was more explicit, speaking of the ‘new bonds’ the past year had forged that ‘will serve us well in the future as the United Kingdom seeks to rebuild and reshape community life’.

Whether William turns out to be as great an asset to Unionism as his granny depends on him. He displays an increasing tendency to say too much

No wonder royalty renders the Nats charmless; the dutiful nonagenarian rarely fails to strike a chord with her few but well-chosen interjections.

Whether Prince William turns out to be as great an asset to Unionism as his granny depends on him. He already seems to have something of his mother’s affinity with people and little of his father’s awkwardness. But he also displays an increasing tendency to say too much.

The desire of the younger generation of senior royals to carve out a more relevant role has not been entirely successful so far, with Harry lost to California.

Panorama comments questionable

Prince William is far more grounded, mercifully, since he is the heir. But if he must speak out, he should also be more guarded.

His comments over Diana’s Panorama interview were widely welcomed because they joined a chorus of righteous disapproval over the BBC.

But in more or less accusing the corporation of hastening his parents’ divorce, his contribution to the debate was as questionable as his brother’s (who seems to hold Martin Bashir responsible for Diana’s death).

 

The facts – which are easily accessible – confirm that the Wales’ marriage was over three years before the programme aired, with affairs and therefore blame on both sides of that ill-fated match.

Harry can get away with talking nonsense and rewriting history but William’s words carry much more weight.

His influence as a figurehead rests to a large extent on his credibility and common touch. Let’s hope, for the Union’s sake, he doesn’t blow it.