IT WAS on this day 730 years ago, during the First Scottish War of Independence, that the incumbent King Edward I swept into Scone Abbey in Perthshire and seized the precious Stone of Scone. The Stone of Scone was installed beneath a wooden throne after being stolen by King Edward I. Despite the 700-year-long story, there remains doubt to this day over whether Edward captured the real stone. Some historians and scholars posit that the monks at Scone hid the real stone after learning of Edward’s anticipated arrival. On Christmas Day 1950, a group of four Scottish students entered Westminster Abbey under the cover of darkness, stealing the stone from below the throne and intending to return it to Scotland.