I WAS most interested in Hamish MacPherson’s article in the Sunday National (The marriage that changed history and sealed Orkney and Shetland’s destiny as Scottish islands, July 7).
READ MORE: The marriage that sealed Orkney and Shetland’s destiny as Scottish
During a recent holiday in Orkney, I visited St Magnus Cathedral and was dismayed to see near the entrance (and separate from a memorial, displayed elsewhere in the building, to those lost in the Royal Oak disaster) the Union flag displayed along with the Norwegian flag.
Upon asking our tour guide (who was not connected to the cathedral), who happened to be English, why the Union flag was displayed instead of the Saltire, the answer was that Scotland did not exist when the cathedral was built! I pointed out that Scotland existed 200 years before that, and that Orkney was given to Scotland by Norway in the 15th century, almost 300 years before the Union jack was dreamed up!
She seemed to get a bit annoyed and could not answer the question. She also said that not many people in Orkney fly a Scottish flag. Can anyone give a good reason why the Union flag is on show, and why the Saltire is not?
Also, could the Orkney Yessers please see what they can do to increase the numbers of Saltires visible for any passing tour guide to see? Thank you.
Dennis White
Blackwood
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