A businessman has “trademarked” Mary Queen of Scots in a bid to help Kinross-shire capitalise on its connection to the tragic monarch.
Mary was imprisoned at nearby Loch Leven Castle in 1567 and forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James.
Graham Hadley, of Mary Queen of Scots Enterprises, has placed the Queen’s image on products ranging from whisky to shortbread.
While he cannot lay claim to the monarch herself, he had designed a coin-style image of her, bearing the words Maria Regina Scotia — Mary Queen of Scots.
Graham had to jump through several legal hoops to set up the trademark.
He said: “To register the company in Edinburgh I had to have permission from the Scottish Government to use the title ‘Queen of Scots’.
“My creative colleagues came up with a 16th century lookalike coin head image of Mary Queen of Scots which I submitted to the patent office and they granted the trademark.
“I have the registered trademark for about seven industrial categories, including wines and spirits and confectionery.”
He said he hoped that it would help build on previous work to bring tourists to the area, as well as supporting Scottish manufacturers.
“I hope it will be a positive thing for Kinross,” he said. “The M90 has taken a heck of a lot of traffic away from Kinross over the last 20 years or so and it’s rather withered on the vine.
“Along with some of the locals, I am determined to build on the historical connections between Mary Queen of Scots and the town.
“We have a Mary Queen of Scots Festival, a trail around the loch, Loch Leven’s Larder and the boat out to the castle — we are gradually building up quite a tourist destination.”
He added: ““Everything involved has to be Scottish and high-end, quality stuff.
“The whisky is a blend of 12 malts and each is 12 years old, to reflect the 12 years in total that Mary Queen of Scots spent in Scotland. She invented shortbread petticoat tails, so I am chatting to shortbread manufacturers about doing something with that.
“Apart from men, she really loved diamonds so we have the Mary Queen of Scots diamond collection on the ramp ready to go.
“I’m puzzled that nobody has done it before.”
