“Flower of Scotland” is commonly used as the unofficial national anthem of Scotland. It was written sometime in the mid-1960s by folk musician Roy Williamson of the folk group The Corries, and its lyrics focus primarily on the Wars of Scottish independence and Robert the Bruce, who as King of Scots, secured victory over Edward II of England, during the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The song’s basic theme is said to “protect the country and sending the English King home to think twice about invading Scotland again”. It was first heard publicly in a 1967 BBC television series, where it did not yet include the third ‘we can still rise now’ verse. Although there is no official national anthem of Scotland, “Flower of Scotland” is one of a number of songs which are used, along with the older “Scotland the Brave”. The song was composed and is sung in English, with one Scots word (“Tae” for “To”). It has been translated into Scots.
The song has been used as an anthem by the Scotland Rugby Union team, ever since the winger, Billy Steele, encouraged his team-mates to sing it on the British Lions tour of South Africa in 1974. The song was adopted as the pre-game anthem for the 1990 Five Nations Championship, first non-officially for the initial home game against France, then for the deciding match between Scotland and England at Murrayfield, which Scotland won 13–7 to win the Grand Slam. In July 2006, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted an online poll (publicised by Reporting Scotland) in which voters could choose a national anthem from one of five candidates. 10,000 people took part in the poll, in which “Flower of Scotland” came out the winner with 41% of the votes.
In January 2015, the Scottish Parliament heard evidence from a member of the public, Chris Cromar, who had brought forward a petition to the parliament for consideration on an agreed national anthem for Scotland. Cromar had, through the petition, called for the Scottish Government to formally recognise and adopt “Flower of Scotland” as the Scottish national anthem.
In March 2015, the Scottish Parliament officially closed the consideration of the petition under Rule 15.7, claiming that “this is not something that should be led by the Scottish Government but is likely to be determined informally over time”. MSP Angus MacDonald said in a speech to the Scottish Parliament about the petition that “given the position of the Scottish Government, and given that there is still a considerable amount of debate outside as to what the national anthem should be, we should close the petition reluctantly and allow that debate to continue”.
