In 1937, the keeper of the Privy Purse tore a strip off a kilt-maker who dared to inquire whether he might sell kilts made from the Balmoral tartan, invented by Prince Albert in 1853 and still worn by the royal family. That tartan, declared Sir Ulick Alexander, “is purely personal and private to His Majesty and the royal family and can, in no circumstances, be worn by other people”.
The same line is maintained today, with the official royal website stating that the only non-royal permitted to wear Balmoral is the Queen’s piper.
This is nonsense. The idea of ancient ownership of tartan is a myth, for the entire story of tartan is a glorious invention, cooked up by a couple of enterprising gay Victorian