Since the 13th Century, the banner of the Scottish royal house has been a lion. From then until the Union of the Crowns in 1603, four different dynasties engaged in a seemingly endless struggle to claim the banner and the throne. We start with the first big dynastic struggle for the banner of the lion between the ‘Margaretsons’ and the ‘MacWilliams’. Both families descend from Malcom (Canmore) III via different wives. The Macwilliams sprout from first wife, Queen Ingibjorg, while the Margaretsons claim the second wife, St.Margaret, as ancestral matriarch.

Who should wear the crown remains a bone of contention between the two factions for decades, but by 1214 it’s the Margaretsons in the hot-seat with Alexander II. Now here’s a man who knows the value of brutality, and unfortunately for everyone else, is not afraid to use it. It’s Alexander II who cuts off the hands and feet of eighty men (although they had just roasted a Bishop alive). He sees the Macwilliams are a threat that must be extinguished as they try to hold the Northern strongholds of Moray and Badenoch. Alexander hunts them all down until only a single threat remains.

With the help of historians Professor Richard Oram and Dr Susan Marshall, Len and Susan discover that the fictional machinations in Game of Thrones are nothing compared to real life Scottish history.

Presenters: Len Pennie and Susan Morrison