Charles Edward Stuart

Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland, Ireland, and France; (1720-1788)
(Redirected from Bonnie Prince Charlie)

Charles Edward Stuart (Prince Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart, 31 December 1720 - 31 January 1788; better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or as 'The Young Pretender') was the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This claim was as the eldest son of James Francis Edward Stuart ('The Old Pretender') who was the son of James II and VII.

Charles Edward Stuart
"Charles III"
King Charles III in 1775
Jacobite pretender
Pretendence1 January 1766 – 31 January 1788
PredecessorJames III and VIII
SuccessorHenry IX (brother)
Born(1720-12-31)31 December 1720
Palazzo Muti, Rome
Died31 January 1788(1788-01-31) (aged 67)
Palazzo Muti, Rome
Burial
SpouseLouise of Stolberg-Gedern
IssueCharlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany (illegitimate)
Full name
Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Severino Maria Stuart[1]
HouseHouse of Stuart
FatherJames III & VIII
MotherMaria Klementyna Sobieska
ReligionRoman Catholic

Charles is perhaps best known as the leading the unsuccessful Jacobite uprising of 1745. He led a rebellion which ended in a heavy defeat at the Battle of Culloden. That ended the Jacobite cause. Charles's escape from Scotland after the uprising made him a romantic figure of heroic failure. The Skye Boat Song remembers him.

He lived, and died, in Rome, where his father had been given a home by Clement XI.

References

change
  1. Additional Manuscripts, British Library, 30,090, quoted in Frank McLynn, Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts (London: Routledge, 1988), 8.
 
The lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart by Allan Ramsay, 1745