Opið bréf til valdaræningjans á Fjárvíkurhólma.

Eftir að hafa ritað athugsemd um áhugaverða frétt í fyrradag (sjá hér að neðan) hef ég kynnt mér málið frekar og í framhaldi af því sent téðum Stuart Hill bréf á heimasíðu hans.

Þar sem málið kann að hafa vakið athygli annara en mín birti ég nefnt bréf hér í heild sinni. Beðist er velvirðingar á því að bréf þetta er útlenzku en þar sem Stuart þessi Hill er útlendingur er vafasamt að hann skilji það annars:

"Dear Sir
I believe the basis for your declaration can not apply to Forvik alone. It has to apply to Shetland as a whole. Since it was Shetland that was declared a crown dependency in 1669 but not each island as such.

Furthermore king Charles' declaration has to be considered void as it contradicts the original contract between Christian I. king of Denmark-Norway and James III. king of Scotland. The contract does indeed contain a clause giving the Danish-Norwegian king the right to purchase the islands back.

The only two things that could alter the present state of Shetland is either the reigning Danish monarch purchasing the pawn back or the Shetlanders doing so themselves and thereby buying themselves from British rule and back under the Danish crown. Probably and eventually gaining a similar status as the Faeroe Islands have within the Danish kingdom.

To avoid all misunderstanding, please note that Shetland was indeed a Norwegian crown dependecy, but when Norway came under the same king as Denmark in 1380 the Norwegian dependencies like Iceland, Faeroes, Shetland and Orkney followed. When Norway was forced into a union with Sweden in 1815 old dependencies like Iceland and the Faeroes remained under the Danish king. The present king of Norway therefore has no right to purchasing this pawn back as he belongs to a new royal house created when Norway gained its independence from Sweden in 1905.

Best regards

Emil"