Scots hoping to be free of feudalism if Scotland opts for independence from the UK may be disappointed. The Scottish National Party (SNP) says that Liz Windsor should continue to be head of state in an independent Scotland.
The SNP, which has been leading in the campaign for election of the Scottish Parliament on 3 May, is committed to a referendum to decide whether Scotland should break the link with the United Kingdom.
The party’s election manifesto calls for “independence in the modern world”. But its idea of modern independence is one in which Scotland would have a foreign head of state not chosen by the people of Scotland.
The British queen would formally appoint the Prime Minister of Scotland. And it can be assumed that the Prime Minister of Scotland , like the British PM, would be expected to back out of a room rather than turn her or his back on the English queen of Scotland.
While keeping the monarchy, the Scots would opt out of financial support for the Windsor family. This would come from the people of Wales, England and Northern Ireland except when the family head was acting as Scotland’s head of state.
The SNP does promises a referendum at an unspecified date on whether the Windsor family should continue to have the exclusive right to fill Scotland’s chief public office.
It is not clear whether Scotland would keep the honours system that awards feudal titles such as “lord” and “knight”. One renowned supporter of the SNP, actor Sean Connery, is a British “knight” and is addressed by supporters of feudal titles as “Sir Sean”. However, it does seem that the SNP has no plan for legislators-for-life in the parliament of an independent Scotland.
Meanwhile, one Scottish member of the UK Parliament has made an unusual call for the abolition of the monarchy. Labour MP Jim McGovern, who represents the Dundee West constituency, told the Dundee Evening Telegraph “I see absolutely no role for an unelected monarch within our political system”.
Phil Windsor, the husband of Britain’s head of state, is the duke of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city.