I doubt that there are many British females of my generation (so sue me, I’m a Boomer, perhaps the last generation with some fairly comprehensive understanding of historical facts, context and consequences that the world may ever see), who wasn’t stirred to her bones, in her youth, by the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald.
279 years ago today, on June 27, 1746, and after the disastrous (from a certain standpoint) Battle of Culloden, Miss MacDonald set off in a boat from Uist (part of the Outer Hebridean Archipelago) towards the Scottish mainland. One of her rather motely crew was “Betty Burke,” an Irish spinning maid (of the “thready,” rather than the “bicycle” sort), said person being the afore-mentioned Bonnie Prince in disguise. They didn’t make it to their destination, landing unexpectedly on the Isle of Skye, and venturing to Portree, from which Charles managed to finagle a boat to another Scottish island (Raasay) and thence to France.
Legend has it that Flora (who never saw Charles again, but who spent a year or so imprisoned on the Isle of Oban and then in the Tower of London), received a locket from the Scottish prince for her troubles.
Subsequently, Flora and her husband escaped to the New World and found a new life. But–having taken the side of the British in the American Revolution, things didn’t work out so well for their little clan, and after losing everything in America, Flora and her daughter returned to Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye. She died, on Skye, in 1790, and was reputedly buried “wrapped in a sheet in which Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept.”
Samuel Johnson memorialized her as follows:
Flora MacDonald. Preserver of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Her name will be mentioned in history and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour.
There’s constancy, and then there is constancy. I leave it up to you to decide if she went a bit over the top.
Nevertheless, the song celebrating the event (written by an Englishman, 140 years-or-so after the fact) has passed into timeless history:
Meanwhile, those of us with a sense of irony can do no more than chuckle at the recent headlines which breathlessly shout:
Why the “Outlander” Song Was Played at the Queen’s Funeral!”
I suspect Her Majesty’s legendary sense of the ridiculous would have been right there, on top of it.
PS: In case you’ve forgotten about the implied criticism in the title to this post, I have not. CalMac Ferries are–according to Wikipedia–the “major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries to the west coast of Scotland, serving ports on the mainland and 22 of the major islands. It is a subsidiary of holding company David MacBrayne, which is owned by the Scottish Government.”
CalMac Ferries are an unfortunate clustrous debacle. (I know because I have family members who rely on them for transport and are regularly disappointed.) Per the same Wikipedia article I linked to above:
The company enjoys a de facto monopoly on the shipment of freight and vehicles to the islands, and competes for passenger traffic with a number of aircraft services of varying quality and reliability. Nonetheless, few if any of the routes currently operated by CalMac are profitable, and the company receives significant government subsidies due to its vital role in supplying the islands: these routes are classified as “lifeline” services.
Most recently:
CalMac: New ferry fiasco hits vital Islay supplies.
It affects life. It affects groceries. It affects free movement. It affects healthcare.
But the above refers to problems with existing CalMac ferries.
When it comes to new CalMac ferries, we find this from little over a month ago:
Fresh ferry disaster as new CalMac boat removed from service after seven-year delay scandal. This particular ferry between the islands was finally moved into service about seven years late and millions of pounds over budget.
Barely two months later, it was removed from service, after cracks were found in the hull, perilously close to the waterline:
It was set to be complete by 2018 but has been one of two ships at the centre of the Ferguson Marine fiasco which cost taxpayers over £400m.
The Glen Sannox has been sailing between Troon in Ayrshire and Brodick on the Isle of Arran.
But sailings had to be cancelled after the damage was discovered close to the waterline.
As I’m fond of saying: I’m glad–at this point in my life–that I live on the US side of the pond because, so help me, if I was on the other side of it, I’d be the lead story on the 11 o’clock news every night.
It would have been nice if the Scots had devoted themselves to fixing these sorts of inadequacies themselves over the intervening two-and-three-quarter centuries. But since I was advised earlier today (and a just a bit of research seems to confirm):
Social media accounts behind 250,000 pro-[Scottish] independence posts suddenly stopped after major Israeli air strike
I really have to wonder who’s running the show.
What a bloody disgrace. I should think Prince Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart is rolling over in his grave. Which isn’t in Persia, BTW.
