Editing Stone of Scone (section)

==First return to Scotland==
{{Main article|1950 removal of the Stone of Scone}}

On Christmas Day 1950, a group of four Scottish students ([[Ian Hamilton (lawyer)|Ian Hamilton]], [[Gavin Vernon]], [[Kay Matheson]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 14, 2013 |title=Kay Matheson |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=[[London]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10178854/Kay-Matheson.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 June 2019 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10178854/Kay-Matheson.html |archive-date=12 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and Alan Stuart) removed the stone from Westminster Abbey, intending to return it to Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 January 2008 |title=Blog Archive » Emotion Nationalism And The Brave-Heart Factor |url=http://www.ianhamiltonqc.com/blog/?p=269 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712235747/http://www.ianhamiltonqc.com/blog/?p=269 |archive-date=12 July 2011 |access-date=13 November 2010 |publisher=Ian Hamilton Qc |df=dmy-all}}</ref> During the removal process, the stone broke into two pieces.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thomas Quinn |date=25 May 2008 |title=Film on Stone of Destiny heist 'will end UK' |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/may/25/scotland.britishidentity |access-date=14 May 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Olga Craig |date=14 Dec 2008 |title=Ian Hamilton on Stone of Destiny: I felt I was holding Scotland's soul |work=Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3743946/Ian-Hamilton-on-Stone-of-Destiny-I-felt-I-was-holding-Scotlands-soul.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=25 December 2011 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3743946/Ian-Hamilton-on-Stone-of-Destiny-I-felt-I-was-holding-Scotlands-soul.html |archive-date=12 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref> After burying the greater part of the Stone in a [[Kent]] field, where they camped for a few days,<ref name="Guardian 14Oct2008">{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Kirsty |date=14 October 2008 |title=The Caledonian job |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/oct/14/heritage-scotland |website=The Guardian}}</ref> they uncovered the buried stone and returned to Scotland, along with a new accomplice, John Josselyn.

According to an American [[diplomat]] who was posted in [[Edinburgh]] at the time, the stone was briefly hidden in a trunk in the basement of the consulate's Public Affairs Officer, without his knowledge, then brought up further north.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scotland, A Land Apart |url=https://adst.org/2014/09/scotland-a-land-apart/ |access-date=2021-07-30 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training |date=17 September 2014 |language=en-US}}</ref> The smaller piece was similarly brought north at a later time. The entire stone was passed to [[Glasgow]] politician [[Robert Gray (Scottish politician)|Robert Gray]], who arranged for a Glasgow [[stonemason]] to repair it.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-07-12 |title=The Stone of Destiny |work=Scone Palace Perthshire |url=http://scone-palace.co.uk/palace-grounds/stone-of-destiny |access-date=2017-04-17 |archive-date=26 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126164334/http://scone-palace.co.uk/palace-grounds/stone-of-destiny |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 September 1974 |title=Offer to repair Stone of Destiny |page=3 |work=[[The Glasgow Herald]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VXZDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7qQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3896%2C2940043 |access-date=14 May 2017}}</ref>

The [[British Government]] ordered a major search for the stone, but were unsuccessful. The stone was left by those that had been hiding it on the altar of [[Arbroath Abbey]] on 11 April 1951, a property owned by the [[Church of Scotland]]. Once the London police were informed of its whereabouts, the stone was returned to Westminster four months after its removal. Afterward, rumours circulated that copies of the stone had been made, and that the returned stone was not the original.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richard Blystone |date=15 November 1996 |title=Scotland's 'Stone of Scone' finds its way home |work=[[CNN]] |url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9611/15/stone.of.scone/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806180816/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9611/15/stone.of.scone/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 August 2014 |access-date=30 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="Sad">{{Cite web |last=Richard Halloran |date=26 August 2014 |title=The Sad, Dark End of the British Empire |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/the-sad-end-of-the-british-empire-110362 |access-date=30 August 2014 |website=Politico Magazine}}</ref>