In the case of Gordon Brown's prime ministership, it brought precisely the same hostility from Londoners that Scots first found when JamesVI first took his court there.
There were great celebrations here four years ago for the 400th anniversary of the Union of the Crowns, when Scotland's King JamesVI became monarch of England as well.
The mussel scalps belonged to the Crown up until 1612, when ownership and the right to fish for them was bequeathed to the royal burgh in perpetuity by JamesVI of Scotland.
King JamesVI of Scotland, who went on to also become James I of England, attended the Assembly and three years later he commissioned what became known as the King James Bible at the Hampton Court Conference.
What is certain is that for hundreds of years a Frenchman could count on a Scotsman by his side in almost every big battle (often against the English) until the Scottish and English thrones were united under JamesVI of Scotland in 1603.