Stone of Scone - Cultural References

Cultural References

Stone of Scone has appeared in print, television, and film:

The Stone, although not directly referred to, was mentioned in Macbeth: "... crowned at Scone ..."

The Stone and its authenticity were the subject of the 1958 novel The Stone by Scottish historical novelist Nigel Tranter.

The Stone also appears in the Nigel Tranter novel Macbeth the King. Macbeth's coronation at Scone is depicted along with this confirmation as King by the Thanes, including MacDuff, who does so reluctantly.

The Stone of Scone figures prominently in Das Königsprojekt, a 1974 novel by the German writer Carl Amery.

The return of the Stone of Scone to Scotland is documented in the Scottish Gaelic song Òran na Cloiche (Song of the Stone), covered by artists including Kathleen MacInnes and Mànran.

In the 1988 animated film Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw, the stone that contains the sword Excalibur also contains a magical bone called the "Bone of Scone." While Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, Arthur's dog Digalot pulls the Bone of Scone from the same stone, thus unleashing "Puppy Power" which allows humans and dogs to communicate with each other.

In the episode Pendragon of the Gargoyles second season originally airing in 1996, King Arthur comes to London and encounters the Stone of Destiny at Westminster Abbey. The Stone spoke, telling Arthur that he must prove himself once more worthy of Excalibur and sent him and his "squire", the London Clan gargoyle Griff, to New York for that task. The story of the stone is expanded in the follow-up Gargoyles SLG comics.

In 1996 Trilobyte released the game Clandestiny in which the ultimate goal is to find the Stone of Scone and return it to its proper place.

In the two-part series finale of the Hamish Macbeth TV series in 1997, a millionaire is searching for the real Stone, as the one in Westminster Abbey is a fake. Hamish (Robert Carlyle) leads a posse on a death-defying trek across mountain and moorland in order to rescue their friend and save the Stone. This story is set in 1995, current events having invalidated the premise during production of the series.

In a 1997 episode of the television series Highlander, the 1950 return was adapted with the characters Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul), Hugh Fitzcairn (Roger Daltrey) and Amanda Darieux (Elizabeth Gracen) stealing the stone for various reasons. Duncan wishes to see it returned to Scotland, Fitzcairn owes Duncan a debt of honour for cheating at golf, and Amanda wants to sell the stone to pay off her gambling debts. Duncan makes a copy of the stone only to have it break when his workbench collapses. This broken stone is returned to Westminster Abbey, while the real stone is hidden in plain sight as a conveniently placed seat on the Royal Highlands Golf Course in Scotland.

Terry Pratchett authored the 1999 novel The Fifth Elephant centered around the theft of a Dwarfish coronation seat made from hardened bread and called the Scone of Stone. As in real life, the story includes claims that copies were made, and there are disputes over the Scone's genuineness.

Patricia Kennealy Morrison, in her science-fantasy series The Keltiad, has a 1986 novel The Throne of Scone, in which the Stone has been transmuted into a throne that her starfaring Kelts have brought with them from Earth.

The stone is referred to in the comedy play by Derek Webb called Bringing Back the Bluestones in which a Welsh group decide to emulate the return of the Stone of Scone to Scotland by demanding the return of the Bluestones from Stonehenge to Pembrokeshire.

The 2005 Doctor Who short story "Set in Stone" revolved around the Doctor, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright stealing the stone.

In October 2008, a feature film, Stone of Destiny, based on the theft of the stone, was released by Infinity Entertainment of Vancouver. It was written and directed by Charles Martin Smith and produced by Rob Merilees and the late William Vince. The role of the Scottish nationalist politician was played by Robert Carlyle.

It is also mentioned briefly in the British script of We Will Rock You, a stage musical written by the two remaining members of Queen using their selections of their music. Killer Queen and Khashoggi are looking for "The place of Living Rock", blowing up all the known artifacts made of stone.

In the 2009 period drama "The Young Victoria", Viscount Melbourne asks The Queen in Westminster Abbey prior to her coronation if she is familiar with the Stone. She answers that she is quite in awe of it.

In the 2010 film The King's Speech, Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue sits on the coronation throne in order to provoke King George VI into talking. In the ensuing argument the king refers to the Stone of Scone.

2011 novel by Jeanette Baker "Legacy" (Casablanca Classics) is a fictional account of the possibility of the original Stone of Scone being hidden away and a replica taken to Westminster. The story tells of a female descendant of the person who hid the stone away uncovering the details of the legend and an attached curse.

Episode 4 of the Syfy series Legend Quest involved a hunt for the "true" Stone of Destiny.

In one adventure of Solar Pons—the Sherlock Holmes pastiche created by August Derleth⁠—​a Scottish nationalist very similar to Ian Hamilton, stole the Stone from Westminster in 1935. The thefts are very similar, to the point of occurring on Christmas Day and the stone being recovered from Arbroath Abbey. However, the fictional event was first published in "The Return of Solar Pons", without the benefit of prescience, in 1958.