A LEADING Scottish historian has given the Chancellor of the Exchequer a history lesson on the Battle of Agincourt after George Osborne announced a £1 million celebration of the English victory during Wednesday’s budget.
Agincourt was, according to Osborne, the defeat of “an ill-judged alliance between the champion of a united Europe and Scottish nationalists”.
However, Dauvit Broun, professor of Scottish history at Glasgow University, said there were no records of Scots fighting at the battle. “I don’t know for a fact if any Scots were at the battle, but Scotland was allied with the French,” he said.
“The battle of Agincourt was an English, not a British victory. The UK Government is, of course, welcome to celebrate it as an English event. We should, however, not be surprised that Her Majesty’s government has difficulty being sure of the identity of the country they govern, not least because Her Majesty is Queen Elizabeth II.
"Queen Elizabeth I was queen of England. By being Elizabeth ‘II’ we have to assume her government identify themselves as rulers of England, though they mean the UK as a whole.”
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