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The thistle is a weed that is common throughout Britain. It is spiky and persistent, but how did this weed become the symbol for a whole nation? Perhaps its appeal to the Stuart kings is not so surprising. Its toughness and bold colour embody the fearlessness that the Scots saw as their own. Its spiny flowers and spear-shaped leaves were emblems of violent times when the Order of the Thistle was the highest honour. Growing on a Northamptonshire hillside are thistles that are said to have been planted by the attendants of Mary Queen of Scots at the place where she was executed. They are still called ‘Queen Mary’s Thistles’. This little piece of Scotland is in the ruins of an English castle and gives the weed a certain nobility.