He has been hailed by Nicola Sturgeon as a "giant" of the independence movement, on whose shoulders the modern SNP stands. 

Now, following the sad passing of Ian Hamilton KC - who as a young independence activist took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey and smuggled it back to Scotland - we share the story of the historic heist and also relay his final thoughts on the matter as the Stone, now repatriated to Edinburgh Castle, is once again to be taken from its native land and used in the coronation of a king. 

ONE of the students at the centre of a successful plot to take the Stone of Destiny more than 70 years ago from Westminster Abbey is happy for the ancient artefact to go back to London for King Charles’ coronation - so long as it is returned to Scotland.

Ian Hamilton KC, now 97, was among four young independence supporting Scots who famously seized the historic sandstone block from under the Coronation Chair on Christmas Day 1950 - after it had lain there since 1296 - and brought it north of the border.

Mr Hamilton, a Glasgow University law student a the time who went onto become an advocate, was questioned by police over the incident along with engineering students Gavin Vernon and Alan Stuart, and domestic science teacher Kay Matheson.

They confessed to removing it from the abbey.

Months after the raid the stone was sent back to London after being found wrapped in a Saltire in Arbroath Abbey where the declaration of Arbroath, pledging Scottish freedom from English rule, was signed in 1320.

It was finally repatriated to Scotland in a major ceremony in 1996 and now sits in Edinburgh Castle where it is kept with the Scottish Crown Jewels.

But following the death of Queen Elizabeth the stone will be sent to London for King Charles’ coronation which is expected to take place next year.

Speaking to The Herald on Sunday Mr Hamilton’s wife said: “All I know is he doesn’t want any fuss about it but he is perfectly happy for it go [to London] for the King to be crowned as long as it comes back to Scotland.”

Prime Minister Clement Attlee was under pressure from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Westminster for Mr Hamilton and the three other Scots to be brought to trial for theft, criminal damage and sacrilege following the Christmas Day raid in 1950.

But government papers released in 2006 to the Sunday Times revealed that Sir Hartley Shawcross, the attorney-general famed for prosecuting Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, persuaded Mr Attlee that taking the four to court would be a bad idea. “I am satisfied that a prosecution would do no good except to the defendants, to whom it would give the opportunity of being regarded as martyrs if they were convicted, or heroes if they were acquitted,” he wrote on April 18, 1951 in a secret paper ahead of a cabinet meeting the next day.

“In Scotland a prosecution would produce a very adverse reaction.”

Mr Shawcross was not alone among senior legal figures in arguing against prosecution. John Wheatley, the lord advocate, issued the same advice. “The prevailing view in Scotland is that those who removed the Stone were foolish rather than criminal . . . and that it would do no good, and might do considerable harm, to proceed against them,” he wrote in a report dated April 17, 1951 uncovered in the same set of papers by The Sunday Times in Scotland’s national archives.

“Prosecution might well result in a swing of popular sympathy: and it would certainly result in wide public interest continuing to be taken in an affair which it seems much more prudent to damp down.”

Mr Hamilton told the paper at in 2006 that he had always suspected someone in England must have intervened to advise against a prosecution, but he had never known who or why: “I’m a very considerable fan of Hartley Shawcross. His speech at the Nuremberg trials was a masterpiece and I’m delighted to hear it was him who advised against prosecution.”

He said he was “strangely complimented” that Mr Shawcross had had such a key role. “A prosecution would have exacerbated divisions between Scotland and England. Having said that, at the time I would have welcomed that. I wanted to be prosecuted,” he said.

“I didn’t know John Wheatley was also against a prosecution. I got to know John Wheatley very well later, indeed I took my oath of allegiance in front of him as a judge.”

Historically the stone sat in what is now the ruined Scone Abbey near Perth, central Scotland, from AD 841, having, it is thought, been brought there from Iona by Kenneth MacAlpin. It served for centuries in the coronation rituals of Scottish kings.

But in 1296 it was seized by the forces of Edward I - a monarch known as ‘the Hammer of the Scots’ - from Scone during the English invasion of Scotland, taken to London where it has been used in the coronation of the monarchs of England as well as the monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, following the Treaty of Union of 1707.

Its symbolic value was invested with such importance that, during World War II, it was removed from Westminster Abbey and hidden in Gloucester Cathedral for fear it otherwise might be damaged or destroyed by German bombs.

Only a tiny number of people were made aware of the stone’s whereabouts.

Lest it be lost forever, two maps of its hiding place were sent to Canada. The Canadian prime minister lodged one map in a Bank of Canada vault and the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario locked his in the vault of the Bank of Montreal in Toronto.

After the war, with the stone back in Westminster Abbey, the four young Scots crept in on Christmas night, 1950, and removed the block, which weighs about 152 kilograms or 335 lbs. It has two metal rings set into its ends for carrying purposes.

But a corner of the stone broke off with arrangements later made for a stonemason to seamlessly rejoin the parts.

Three months after the raid the stone was left on the high altar of the Arbroath Abbey.

Police in England, who had been searching for the stone, were informed of its whereabouts four months after it went missing.

It was returned to Westminster Abbey, where two years later, Elizabeth was crowned in the wooden chair fitted to the stone 657 years previously.

But independence supporters remained indignant that the Stone of Scone was returned and had stayed in London.

In 1996 the UK government made a significant gesture of peace and agreed to return it to Scotland with Prime Minister John Major announcing the plan to Westminster in July that year.

Months of preparation followed and the stone was repatriated on St Andrew’s Day precisely 700 years after Edward I had stolen it after a 400 mile, police escorted journey from Westminster Abbey to Edinburgh Castle.

It has sat ever since in Edinburgh Castle with the Scottish Crown Jewels.

However, with the coronation of the new King likely to occur in the British spring or summer of next year, the stone faces another journey.

It will be taken south to Westminster Abbey, Edward’s ancient chair will be affixed to it and Charles, crowned.

Two years ago, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a plan to return the stone by 2024 to Perth, which was described as its “spiritual home”.

One story about the stone is that it was actually hidden in the Arlington pub in Glasgow’s west end.

Mr Hamilton and his friends were regulars of the bar and the rumour that has circulated in the city is that rather than take it to Arbroath they allegedly hid it in the Arlington.

According to pub legend, the story goes that the stone on display at Edinburgh Castle is a crude replica fashioned by the four young Scots, which they handed over to police when they were apprehended.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) announced last week the stone would be used in King Charles’ coronation before being returned to its current place in Edinburgh Castle.

A spokesperson for HES said: “HES staff will move the Stone of Destiny to Westminster Abbey in advance of the Coronation and then return it to Scotland.

"This will be to its current location in Edinburgh Castle - if the Coronation of King Charles III takes place before the stone is due for its planned move to Perth in 2024. No further details are available at this time."