During her first visit to Scotland yesterday Meghan Markle surprised eager onlookers by pronouncing ‘scone’ in the British style, the first indication that she might be moving towards British pronunciations now that she’s set to become a permanent resident in the UK.
Scottish baker Carolyn Chisholm gifted the bride-to-be heart-shaped potato scones during a walkabout outside Edinburgh Castle saying: “I just thought for Valentine’s the scones were a wee gift of Scottishness.” After thanking Ms Chisholm for the baked goods, Ms Markle turned to hand them to her aide and was heard using the British pronunciation of the word ‘scone’ instead of the American way. Though both versions are used in the United Kingdom (depending on where you live) the majority of Brits say it with a short ‘oh’ (to rhyme with ‘gone’), and Americans tend to favour a long ‘o’ (to rhyme with ‘bone’).
It was Ms Chisholm’s mother, Lynda Clark, who overheard the interesting choice of pronunciation, saying “She gave them to her aide, saying they were scones [rhyming with gone].” Ms Clark added that “the correct pronunciation is ‘scone’ to rhyme with bone.”
Prince Harry and Ms Markle spent nearly half an hour greeting members of the public outside Edinburgh Castle before they continued their visit with a trip to Scottish charity The Social Bite centre. Charity co-founder Alice Thompson was thrilled for the opportunity to meet with the woman who had ‘deeply inspired’ her with a speech at the UN Women conference in 2015, in which Ms Markle had discussed female empowerment. The two women embraced warmly
Prince Harry and Ms Markle’s day in Scotland is the fourth official engagement they have undertaken together since announcing their engagement in November of last year. Though Ms Markle had never been to Scotland before, Kensington Palace shared on Twitter that “she is very much looking forward to returning many times again in the future.”