All politics, and much of life it seems, north of the Scottish border are seen these days through the prism of independence. And so, with just under 400 days to go to the referendum next year – September 18th – it was inevitable that the quintessentially political royal birth would also become a casus belli, albeit one that showed up not the divisions between pro and anti camps, but divisions within the indpendence lobby.
No way would King George ever be king of Scotland, the republican chairman of Yes Scotland, the independence campaign, insisted. Alec Salmond's SNP, on the other hand, determined not to scare off the monarchist middle ground, played the Arthur Griffith dual-monarchy card – he could be a two-crowned king of both Scotland and the rest of the UK .
The result, like Salmond’s fudges on issues like retaining the pound or staying in Nato, was a confused message: independence could be combined with continued adherence to many, if not most, of the individual ingredients that make up a political union. Even economic sovereignty, the rock of the SNP’s case, is to be circumscribed by the necessity of shared institutions like the Bank of England or indeed EU membership, with the disciplines it brings.
Despite the now-heated campaign, it appears that the tide is still not turning as Salmond has argued it will. Poll support for devolution has since 2007 stuck firmly on around 60 per cent with the independence option hovering below 30 per cent ("no devolution", on around 10 per cent). At the weekend a poll for Real Radio Scotland and the Sunday Times on the direct alternative between independence and remaining in the union showed a one-point rise to 37 per cent in support for independence while support for the status quo rose two points to 46 per cent.
Yes Scotland says its private polls show that at least half of voters are still open to the arguments for a separate state, and Salmond has surprised in the past. But the gap is substantial and stable. Nats have a mountain to climb.