What fun!

One of our Munich tabloids... never disinclined to take a trivia story and splash it above the foldon the front page... has run today with the wheeze that Franz, Duke of Bavaria could be the future King of Scotland.

As I noted a couple of days ago, the man is in truth the descendant of the Jacobite Stuart dynasty whose reign lasted until the early 18th century.

The reader of the newspaper who goes as instructed to page 17 will find it entirely devoted to the history of my homeland and of the Wittelsbacher successors to so many of Scotland's rulers..

But Scotland has not been badly served by the monarchs who followed. It was Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who helped to popularize Highland Dress once again, the kilt having been banned for many a long year as a sign of potential seditious sentiments.

But the idea that we would now see fit to replace one line of German nobility with another? Preposterous! But it's fun to see Scotland good for a headline in the local rag! Jawohl!