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Lord Alan Craig Mackie

 

Lord Alan Craig Mackie

Thursday, September 8, 2022

10:34 PM

 

Little known fact about Craig. On June 16, 2021, I was granted the title "Lord" by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.**

 

This came about when my son, Scott, purchased, as a Father’s Day gift, a plot of land (5’ x 1’) in my name in Scotland. While the Proclamation uses the title “Lord”, I much prefer the Scottish title, “Laird”. The difference between the two is a lord has a blood link to the toffee-nosed aristocracy whereas a laird is a Scot who owns some land.

 



 

I was deeply moved by Scott’s gift. To own a small bit of land in my ancestral Scotland gave me a connection I never imagined. My Scottish grandfather arrived in Canada at the port of Montreal in 1910. He was 18 years old, the eldest of five. His father, my great grandfather James, was the village blacksmith in Fyvie. He was also the village herbalist. His framed collection of moths and butterflies still hangs in the halls of the University of Aberdeen. But grandfather, Mac, chose to come to the new world. His brothers and sisters all followed.

 

This is probably a good time to let King Charles know about my lairdly status. Who knows what opportunities may come about. In the meantime, with a slight bow of the head, you can still call me Craig.

 

 

** The Proclamation reads, in part, (I have replaced Lord with Laird) "Whereas Laird Alan Craig Mackie (hereinafter referred to as The Laird), has by way of notice, this sixteenth day of June in the year two thousand and twenty one, in the sixty eighth year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, delivered unto us the intention to purchase, and us with the intention to accept, Established Titles has agreed with the Laird to bequeath unto them a dedication of a plot of land precisely five square feet in Scotland…of a measurement of five feet by one foot and hereinafter referred to as The Plot. Established Titles agrees to dedicate The Plot in the name of the Laird on an estate located in Dunfermline, Scotland, of its choosing, which may be identified altogether or as part of a larger area and form part of a merkland or eight ouncelands."

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