Flower of Scotland has a good tune and has become our informal sporting anthem for the moment (Voices on ...
a song for Scotland, January 18). It is still copyright. We already have an excellent, historic and non-copyright anthem in Scots Wha Hae - which represents Scotland in the "Songs of the nations" section of the Scottish Students' Song Book of 1897. The words were written by Robert Burns on the basis of the reported speech by Robert Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314. That our army used the tune in 1314 is supported by its continued use by the French military, on ceremonial occasions, as the Marche Des Soldats De Robert Bruce. This probably arises from the recorded fact, in French military records, that the ceremonial entry of Joan of Arc to Orleans on May 8, 1429, was to that tune. Scots had taken part in the the defence and relief of the city when it was besieged. I suggest sticking with that anthem, even though the UK establishment would rather we chose something else.
David Stevenson
Edinburgh
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