Introduction

‘To be accepted as a king, one had to behave like a king.’ ¹ Grant Simpson made this statement regarding Robert I (or the Bruce) of Scotland’s request that his heart go on crusade after his death: a decision made, Simpson argues, so that in death he could carry out the kingly crusade of the ‘great’ medieval kings on which he arguably modelled himself. ² After coming to the throne of Scotland in rather inauspicious circumstances in 1306 during the first Scottish wars of independence, Robert I’s questionable legitimacy as ruler meant that he had a great deal to prove to be ‘accepted as king’. Historians have increasingly come to recognize that the Bruce propaganda machine, named by others as such despite the anachronistic modern connotations, actively shaped and modelled the royal image and successfully represented the king’s authority in a range of ways. This propaganda including a range of pious activities, demonstrations of military strength, architectural patronage, written rhetoric and rituals – such as his inauguration at Scone in 1306, the consecration of St Andrews Cathedral in 1318, the marriage of his son at Berwick in 1328 and his own funeral the following year – was all undertaken to meet expectations nationally and internationally. ³ Yet, presenting a royal image that conformed with and responded to contemporary expectation was not solely a concern for Robert I and his advisers or indeed for medieval rulers. As the chapters in this part demonstrate, it is one that resonates across history and one that has arguably become ever more necessary in a modern age with an increasingly mediatized and politicized public who have unprecedented access to royalty.