George IV

This is Royal Week in Edinburgh, and HM will be in residence at Holyrood Palace.

No reigning monarch came to Scotland from 1650 to 1822. King George IV was the first after that long spell.

That incurable romantic, Sir Walter Scott, was put in charge. Politically, the rebellious radicalism of the day was melted away. Tartan was re-invented, and the Scots felt good about themselves. The whole event was very well packaged - for example, all the depictions of the King wearing the kilt were edited to ignore the pink tights he insisted on wearing.