I blame Sir Walter Scott.

Our greatest but most turgid novelist may no longer set the heather on fire in Scotland.

But - thanks, I suspect, to translators who tidy up his prose - his tartanised histories still have their fans in Russia.

The result: indyref coverage laced with whisky, frilly-sleeved Jacobites and the fate of poor old beheaded Mary Queen of Scots.

Russians, like much of the rest of the world, spent last week watching the arrival of another royal, wee Prince George.

Some got to chatting out loud about what would have happened if they hadn't shot their own tsars - relations of the lad, after all.

Others, however, suspect George - Georg out east - would have no kingdom to inherit.

Why? Because of Scotland.

Cue romantic images of "Highlanders" - which, in Russian journalese, is just another word for "Scots".

"The latest offspring of the royal house could, like the last emperor of China, Puyi, see the disestablishment of the very institution of the monarchy," said political scientist and commentator Ivan Preobrazhensky about the royal baby.

"This process will start, most probably, in Scotland, which is more than capable of becoming an independent state in the next decade. In that case, there would be no point in keeping a British monarch.

"Historically, for Scottish Highlanders, the English Redcoat and the British crown symbolised slavery.

"It would be logical, while holding a referendum on independence, to throw out the Queen along with English soldiers.

"At the very least, in honour of Maria Stuart."

Are Scottish independence supporters a bunch of romantics still upset by the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots?

Do they read a lot of Walter Scott? Or Schiller?

Well, no, I'd guess. But overseas commentators - not least in Germany and Russia - love this romantic image.

And they also can't get enough royal baby news.

Preobrazhensky, usually found writing at the Rosbalt news agency, reckons Scotland chucking the royals would kick start what would "almost certainly be a irreversible process" that would leave Prince George without a kingdom.

Russian media - like most of the rest of the world - see the royal family as "English" rather than "British" (although, like "Highlander" and "Scot", "British" and "English" are more or less interchangeable in Russia).

They weren't alone. Many - perhaps most? - international outlets last week routinely referred to young George as a future "King of England".

Some international media, meanwhile, have picked up on the republican strand in Scottish separatism.

Denis Canavan's anti-monarchist remarks this week generated headlines in several countries, including Russia, not least after they were carried by international news agencies.

Canavan's views also sparked an article in Madrid's El Mundo on splits in the Yes Camp.

"He may only have lived six days but he has already turned in to a weapon in the independence battle.

"Local papers are already calling Prince George the 'Last King of Scotland."

Walter Scott, royalist and arch-unionist that he was, would have been horrified at the very thought.