Since 1926 the entitlement to the title "royal borough" has been strictly enforced.
[1] Devizes in Wiltshire, which had previously used the title without authorisation, was forced to end the practice.
This usually recalls the historical ownership of lands or manors by the Crown.
In many places "Kin(g)" is a suffix meaning "head", an anglicisation of Ceann: Kinghorn and Kingussie, for example, are nothing to do with royal patronage.
By 1707, when the Act of Union with England and Wales came into effect, there were 70 royal burghs.