A Palestinian orphan who was adopted by a Renton family over 30 years ago took a wooden heart in memory of Robert the Bruce 3,500 miles to Jerusalem to honour the King’s dying wish.
Simon Collings from Palestine was brought up in Renton and is an ambassador for the Robert the Bruce Heritage Centre in the town.
The centre’s mission is to educate and promote Robert the Bruce’s importance to Renton, where he lived his final three years and died.
Duncan Galbraith Thomson, chairman of the Robert the Bruce Heritage Centre, wanted to honour the King of Scotland’s dying wish, which was for his heart to be taken to the Holy Land to be forgiven.
He said: ”When he died in Renton, his last wish was for his heart to be taken to the holy land to ask God for forgiveness for all the people he had killed to free Scotland. And that was never fulfilled.
“We own the Strathleven Oak, which was planted by him, on the grounds of his palatial manor house in Strathleven.
“One of our carvers made a heart out of the Bruce oak in our interpretation of Robert the Bruce’s heart.
“We made the decision to take it to Jerusalem to fulfil his wish.
“A young man, Simon Collings, from Palestine who was adopted by a Renton family over 30 years ago took the heart to the Holy Land whilst out visiting family in Palestine.
“I asked Simon if he could take the heart to the slab, kiss it and say prayers for Robert the Bruce for all the people he killed and ask for forgiveness.
“He did, and it was on the June 24, the anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn. It was amazing.”
The reason Robert the Bruce’s heart never made it to the Holy land was because Sir James Douglas, who was taking the heart, was killed in Spain. His heart was then returned to the borders of Scotland.
Duncan spoke to the Lennox and said he got quite emotional knowing they had carried out Bravehearts’ dying wish, saying: “It was a massive favour.
“Honestly, the buzz about the place when we released our social media post of what had happened was crazy. Over 21,000 people had read the post which is 10 times as much engagement as we usually get on social media.
“If you remember, Carman Hill went on fire a couple of months ago. My friend Jim had done a post, with a photograph of the fire that night, which said that it signified the King’s heart being restored and put to rest.
“I started greeting, to be honest.”
