Interestingly enough, the Shetland Islands were under
Norwegian rule until
Norway succumbed to
Denmark in the fifteenth century. The new rulers didn't hold the
islands in such high regard as the
Norweigans, so when the daughter of
King Christian I of
Norway and
Denmark married the
Scottish King James III in 1468, the Shetland Islands were offered as part of her
dowry, with the remainder to be paid in cash.
King Christian soon realised was unable to scrape together enough money to pay the balance of the
dowry, so he turned the
Orkney Islands over to
Scotland in the following year.
On a legal note, the transaction of these islands was never formally completed, so, technically, they still belong to Norway. The question of ownership was last reviewed in 1667, without resolution.