Letter: Royal numbers

James McGuigan (Letters, 9 June) questions whether the Queen would be styled "Elizabeth the Second or First" of an independent Scotland.

Winston Churchill made a statement in the House of Commons that the monarch would "take the higher number principle looking to the predecessors of that name in England and in Scotland". Hence Elizabeth the Second, which has been confirmed as correct by the Lord Lyon King of Arms.

However, in an independent Scotland she should use "Elizabeth of Scots" as correctly addressed by Donald Dewar at the opening of the Scottish Parliament.

More interestingly, a new style would also be needed in England as she would no longer be "Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith".

Michael N Crosby

Muiravonside

By Linlithgow