Madonna to check out a new tartan

QUEEN of pop Madonna has been sent her very own tartan to commemorate her first wedding anniversary.

The tartan has been given to her by the Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board to thank her for putting the area on the worldwide map when she got married in Skibo Castle, Sutherland, last year.

Called Romantic Scotland, the plaid has been designed to represent the original material girl's life and work.

It is predominantly blue, after the star's True Blue album, with yellow as the other main colour to honour her Blonde Ambition tour.

Designers at the firm in Elgin, Moray, where the material was produced, also chose white after her Like A Virgin single and purple to represent Scottish heather.

The tartan, which has been registered with the Scottish Tartans Society Register of All Publicly Known Tartans, has also been designed in three line over-check style to honour the New York Fire Department tartan.

The board said it wanted to honour the firefighters because the material was designed just days after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the city, where Madonna lived when she first rose to stardom.

Tourist chiefs say the tartan will play a part in a global marketing drive in 2002 to attract couples to Scotland for their weddings, honeymoons or even their hen and stag nights.

Scott Armstrong, head of marketing at Host, said: "We thought that since Madonna and Guy Ritchie seem to have a love for Scotland and since Madonna is frequently photographed wearing tartan, having a tartan designed specially for them would be a memorable present for their first wedding anniversary.

"After all, Madonna is the original material girl, so a length of fabric seems doubly appropriate."

Mr Armstrong said a number of castles, most of which were in the High-lands or in Aberdeenshire, had become "far more popular" with couples tying the knot since the singer married film director Ritchie at Skibo.

He added the so-called "Madonna effect" would continue to be felt north of the border for many years to come.

"Scotland offers romance for every budget - and a castle for every wedding from dramatic ruins to baronial grandeur," he said.

A length of the tartan had been sent to Madonna's London base, Mr Armstrong added.

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