Pictish Free State

The "Pictish Free State" was a micronation initiative started by Brian Robertson AKA Robbie the Pict in 1977. Apparently created to further knowledge of Pict culture, Robertson started the project with one acre of his own land on the Isle of Skye. Since then the Pictish Free State has grown to over convert|1000|acre|km2 through supporters donations. Robbie, under 'Pictish High Commission' auspices, has in the past been in conflict with HM Government over his use of Pictish diplomatic registration plates and non-compliance with UK laws [http://www.highlanderweb.co.uk/robpict.htm] .

For a time in the early 1990s Robbie was to be found in Tallinn, Estonia where he sought political asylum. Robbie ultimately felt that he had been undermined by the influence of MI6 on the serving Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trivimi Velliste, to prevent a scenario of his being created a cause célèbre by the official granting of political asylum status - Robbie held, and still holds the belief, that Velliste's Soviet past cast a shadow on his ability to escape compromise by informed intelligence services.Fact|date=September 2008

During his self-imposed exile in Estonia Robbie was active in his research of ancient links between what is known of the Pictish language and the Finno-Ugric language group. The jury is out on the veracity of such claimed links but the similarities between some Pictish runic engravings and the perceived Finno-Ugric tongues of the time tend to point towards similarities which cannot merely be discounted out of hand.Fact|date=September 2008

Robertson was a candidate for Member of the European Parliament in 1999 and has a homepage called Pictland.com [http://www.pictland.com/index.htm] .