Called the Honours of Scotland in both Italy as well as Scotland (the Sceptre and Sword of State were a gift from Pope Alexander VI on 1494) during the reign of King James IV and King James V and were first used at the enthronement of the infant Queen Mary in Stirling Castle in September 1543.

From the time they were taken from Edinburgh Castle in 1650 to be used at the coronation of King Charles II at Scone on New Years day in 1651, they have had an eventful history.

Between 1651 and 1660, they were preserved from capture by Cromwell's army, first at Dunnattar Castle on the Kincardineshire coast and then, with Dunnottar besieged , smuggled out by the wife of the minister of nearby Kinneff Church, and buried under the church floor.

After the 1707 Treaty of Union between Scotland and England, the Honours were locked away in the Crown Room and the doors walled up. The barricaded room became something of a mystery to the soldiers serving with the garrison.

No less than 111 years later, romantic poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott, with the permission of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV), had the room unblocked and the chest forced open, Scott himself tells the story: