Hanoverian hellhole

16th April was the anniversary of the Battle of Culloden. I have no particular brief for either side. History is filled with men fighting to be king of this or that, and countless people dying in pursuit of that personal hunger for power. The Jacobite uprising was no different, however romantically it's dressed up today, with Bonnie Prince Charlie only really interested in putting his Dad on the English throne.

It's after Culloden that the lasting damage was done. Massacre of the wounded on the battlefield. Survivors hunted down and killed. Indiscriminate murder and rape in communities of women and children, if anyone was suspected of just maybe supporting the Jacobites. Forts were built and garrisoned. This one is Fort George, east of Inverness. At the far end of Loch Ness is Fort Augustus.And the west cost town of Fort William is still, in the Gaelic, derisively known as An Gearasdan, The Garrison.

It was an occupation. Scotland was indiscriminately suppressed. Even now I have friends who, at school, were beaten if they were heard speaking their native Gaelic. Fortunately we have a civilised government now which is actively promoting the language.

But it is not forgotten. Which is why, come the coronation next month of another of Hanoverian descent, no matter what surname they choose now, this house will be finding something else to do.