The Stone of Destiny will be moved from Edinburgh Castle to London for the coronation of the new King, it has been confirmed.
When Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953 at Westminster Abbey, her throne sat above the stone.
But with the historic artefact having been returned to Scotland more than quarter of a century ago, it will be moved down to London for the ceremony involving her son.
No date has yet been announced for the coronation ceremony of Charles III.
But a spokeswoman for Historic Environment Scotland (HES) confirmed: “HES staff will move the Stone of Destiny to Westminster Abbey in advance of the Coronation and then return it to Scotland.”
HES manages a number of historic locations across Scotland, including Edinburgh Castle, where the stone is among the items on display in the Crown Room.
The HES website notes: “The stone will only leave Scotland again for a coronation in Westminster Abbey.”
The stone was removed from Scotland in August 1296 by the English forces of King Edward I, Longshanks.
It was formally returned to Scotland in 1996 by John Major’s Tory government in an unsuccessful bid to appease rising support for devolution.
Famously, it was taken back to Scotland by four nationalist students in the Christmas of 1950.
It was found some three months later, 500 miles away, at the high altar of Arbroath Abbey.
There have always been rumours that the stone in Edinburgh Castle is not the original, with claims that Bertie Gray, a nationalist councillor and stonemason, carved a copy and sent the original elsewhere.
In November 2020 Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced plans to relocate the stone – which is also known as the Stone of Scone – to Perth.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel