Did you know...

 that according to the history of, and the genealogy of the chiefs of the Clan Donald, the more accurate appellation should be "MacRanald," for Reginald or Ranald, the son of Somerled, instead of "MacDonald" for Reginald's son? To further confuse the issue, Clanranald is named for Reginald's great, great grandson, Ranald, son of John 1st Lord of the Isles; and should he spelled,
to he consistent, "Clan Ranald."

 that the motto of the MacDonalds of Clanranald was originally part of a speech addressed to the Chief, Angus Og, by Robert the Bruce? Angus had previously given protection to Bruce when he was a fugitive, although Angus' own brother, Alexander, was supporting Bruce's weak rival, King John Balliol. Later, Angus with a great following of his clansmen turned the tide of the Battle of Bannockburn in Bruce's favor. King Robert's expression of confidence in Clanranald, "My hope is constant in thee," thus became the proud motto of this great old Clan.

 that it was Ranald, 17th Chief of Clanranald, who in 1743 introduced the potato into the Scottish Highlands from Ireland, and, although it was at that time much opposed by his clansmen, he insisted upon its cultivation; it eventually becoming the "staff of life" in Scotland as elsewhere?

 that the 3rd Chief of Clan MacLeod, Malcolm, possessed a great drinking vessel formed from an ox-horn, banded with silver, carved with Celtic designs, and having a capacity of half-a-gallon; which each succeeding Chief of Clan MacLeod has been required to drain of claret at a single draught, without displaying either mental or physical instability, to prove his worth as a Chief? Known as "Rory Mor's Drinking Horn," it can be seen today on display at Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye.

 that Dunvegan Castle, ancestral seat of Clan MacLeod, has been continuously occupied by the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod for 700 years?

 that the affection and veneration of the clansmen of MacLeod for their chiefs has been traditional over the centuries to the point of the almost incredible voluntary offer of the principal tenants of Dunvegan in 1777 to tax themselves an extra 15% on their rents to help defray the financial reverses of their beloved chief during a crisis at that time?
 

 that the present Chief of Clan MacLeod is Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod, now in her nineties, but who continues to travel proudly and gaily to Clan MacLeod Gatherings around the world?

 that in 1587 an Act of Proscription was passed by Parliament whereby any and all members of an accused criminal's clan could be killed instantly upon recognition by any individual as an "act of justice" if the actual accused could not be apprehended?

 that the Act of Proscription of 1587 was put to its most notorious employment against Clan MacGregor in 1603, because of their long-time feud with the Colquhouns of Luss? After an especially fierce battle between the two Clans, the Colquhoun women carried their menfolk's bloody garments to display before King James VI. James, revolted as always by the sight of blood, rashly consented to their demands for revenge, which resolved into the Battle of Glenfruin, and another defeat for the Colquhouns. The MacGregors were then outlawed until 1774, when a descendant of the MacGregors succeeded in securing the Repeal of the infamous Act.

that the "Robin Hood" of Scotland was the famous Rob Roy MacGregor, immortalized by Sir Walter Scott's novel, as well as by his own exploits? A giant of a man, he claimed he could tie his garters without stooping with his long arms; and this same physical attribute no doubt substantiated his reputation as an agile swordsman. Despite the price on his head, his thirty-years-private-war with the Duke of Montrose, and the proscription of his entire Clan, he succeeded in dying peacefully in bed in his own home at the age of about 74!

that Glamis Castle, setting for the 1034 murder of King Duncan in Shakespeare's "MacBeth," is the family home of the Queen Mother Elizabeth (Bowes-Lyon) and birth-place of Princess Margaret, her younger daughter, having been granted to her ancestor, John Lyon, by King Robert II in 1372?

 that Hermitage Castle in the Liddesdale Border, built by the Earl of Menteith, in the 13th Century, and shortly after owned by Lord William Soulis, was traditionally the scene of such numerous and severe cruelties by Soulis against his prisoners and his own people alike that he was generally believed to be inhuman? Complaints and petitions against him to King Alexander LI reached such proportions that, when one day, half in jest and half in exasperation, Alexander exclaimed, "Oh, boil him if you will, but let me hear no more of him!" The complainants triumphantly did just that! Wrapped in a leaden sheet and borne by his enemies to Nanestone Rig about a mile from the castle, he was literally boiled alive in a huge cauldron. After changing hands numerous times during the next several centuries, Hermitage came into the hands of James Hepburn, Lord Bothwell, and it was at this period that Mary Queen of Scots made her scandalous visit to Lord Bothwell, whom she later wed.

 that the keys to Lochleven Castle, which were thrown in the Loch by Willie Douglas while engineering the escape of Mary Queen of Scots, are said to have been dredged up in 1805, eventually finding a place of honor on the wall at Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford?

 that when Prince Charles Edward visited Moy Hall, seat of Clan Macintosh and home of the Chief, in 1746, he found that although The Macintosh was absent, having enlisted on the side of the Hanovarians, Lady Macintosh was busily engaged in raising the Clan for the Prince, in defiance not only of her husband, but also her father, Farquharson of Invercauld, who was also opposing the Prince?

 that although the Clan Campbell, too, supported the Hanovarian Government during the '45, the reputation of the then Duke of Argyll was such that Prince Charles wrote his Father, the exiled James Stewart (VIII) that: "There is one man in this country whom I could wish to have my friend, and that is the Duke of Argyll.

that Robert Lister MacNeil, 23rd Chief of Clan Barra, and 45th Chief of Clan Neil, who died in June, 1970 at the age of 80 at his home in Vermont, U.S.A., where he spent half of each year, had all but fulfilled his childhood dream and life's ambition to restore Kisimul Castle, the ancient seat of Clan MacNeil? Born in America, he succeeded his Father as Chief in 1914. In 1924
he published a history of the Clan, and in 1965 the history of Kisimul Castle and its restoration. In 1937 he had been able to purchase the desolate ruin on the tiny Island of Barra that had once been the pride of the Clan until it was sold by Roderick MacNeil in 1838. Robert MacNeil's personal talent as a practicing architect, and his determination to restore the Castle to its former glory, plus the support, both moral and financial, of his wife, gave the a