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For the U.S. politician, see Charles E. Stuart

For "Betty Burke" see The 'Forty-Five' below.

Bonnie Prince Charlie
Jacobite pretender "Charles III"
Charles Edward Stuart, "The Young Pretender"
Predecessor	"James III and VIII"
Successor	"Henry IX"
Spouse	Louise of Stolberg-Gedern
Issue
Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany (illegitimate)
Full name
Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Severino Maria Stuart[1]
Royal house	House of Stuart
Father	"James III and VIII"
Mother	Maria Klementyna Sobieska
Born	31 December 1720(1720-12-31) Palazzo Muti, Rome
Died	31 January 1788 (aged 67) Palazzo Muti, Rome
Burial	St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

Charles Edward Stuart (31 December 1720 – 31 January 1788) was the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He is most commonly known in English and Scots as Bonnie Prince Charlie. In Scots Gaelic, his name was Teàrlach Eideard Stiùbhairt.

Charles was the son of James Francis Edward Stuart who was in turn the son of James II and VII, who had been deposed in the Revolution of 1688. The Jacobite movement tried to restore the family to the throne. Charles' mother was James' Polish wife, Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–1735, granddaughter of the Polish King, John III Sobieski). After his father's death Charles was recognised as Charles III by his supporters; his opponents referred to him as The Young Pretender.

Contents 1 Early life 2 The 'Forty-Five' 3 Exile 4 Ancestors 5 See also 6 Footnotes 7 Bibliography 8 External links

Charles was born in Rome, Italy, where his father had been given a residence by Pope Clement XI. He spent almost all of his childhood in Rome and Bologna. In 1734 he participated in the French and Spanish siege of Gaeta; this was his first exposure to a military battle.

Main article: The 'Forty-Five'

In December 1743, Charles' father named him Prince Regent, giving him full authority to act in his name. Eighteen months later he led a rising to restore his father to his thrones. Charles raised funds to fit out two ships; the Elisabeth, an old man-of-war of sixty-six guns and a small frigate of sixteen guns named the Doutelle (le Du Teillay) which successfully landed him with seven companions at Eriskay on July 23, 1745. Charles had hoped for support from a French fleet, but this was badly damaged by storms, and he was left to raise an army in Scotland.

The Jacobite cause was still supported by many Highland clans, both Catholic and Protestant, and the Catholic Charles hoped for a warm welcome from these clans to start an insurgency by Jacobites throughout Britain, but there was no immediate response. Charles raised his father's standard at Glenfinnan and there raised a large enough force to enable him to march on the city of Edinburgh, which quickly surrendered. On 21 September 1745 he defeated the only government army in Scotland at the Battle of Prestonpans, and by November was marching south at the head of around 6,000 men. Having taken Carlisle, Charles' army progressed as far as Derby. Here, despite the objections of the Prince, the decision was taken by his council to return to Scotland, largely because of the almost complete lack of the support from English Jacobites that Charles had promised. By now he was pursued by the King George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland, who caught up with him at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746.

Ignoring the advice of his best commander, Lord George Murray, Charles chose to fight on flat, open, marshy ground where his forces would be exposed to superior British firepower. Charles commanded his army from a position behind his lines, where he could not see what was happening. Hoping that Cumberland's army would attack first, he had his men stand exposed to Hanoverian artillery for twenty minutes before finally ordering an attack. The Jacobite attack, charging into the teeth of murderous musket fire and grapeshot fired from the cannons, was uncoordinated and met little success. Only in one place did a group of Jacobites break through the bayonets of the redcoats, but they were shot down by a second line of soldiers, and the survivors fled. Cumberland's troops committed numerous atrocities as they hunted for the defeated Jacobite soldiers, earning him the title "the Butcher" from the Highlanders. Murray managed to lead a group of Jacobites to Ruthven, intending to continue the fight. However Charles, believing himself betrayed, had decided to abandon the Jacobite cause.

Bonnie Prince Charlie's subsequent flight has become the stuff of legend, and is commemorated in the popular folk song "The Skye Boat Song" (lyrics 1884, tune traditional) and also the old Irish song Bímse Buan ar Buairt Gach Ló by Seán Clárach. Assisted by loyal supporters such as Flora MacDonald who helped him escape pursuers on the Isle of Skye by taking him in a small boat disguised as her Irish maid, "Betty Burke",^[2][3] he evaded capture and left the country aboard the French frigate L'Heureux, arriving back in France in September. The cause of the Stuarts being lost, the remainder of his life was — with a brief exception — spent in exile.

Whilst back in France, Charles had numerous affairs; the one with his cousin Louise de Montbazon resulted in a short-lived son Charles (1748–49). He lived for several years in exile with his Scottish mistress, or common-law wife, Clementina Walkinshaw, whom he met, and may have begun a relationship with, whilst on the '45 campaign. In 1753 the couple had a daughter, Charlotte. Charles's inability to cope with the collapse of the cause led to his heavy drinking and mother and daughter left Charles with James' connivance. Charlotte went on to have three illegitimate children with Ferdinand, an ecclesiastical member of the de Rohan family.

After his defeat, Charles indicated to the remaining supporters of the Jacobite cause in England that, accepting the impossibility of his recovering the English and Scots crowns while he remained a Roman Catholic, he was willing to commit himself to reigning as a Protestant^{[citation needed]}. Accordingly he visited London incognito in 1750 and conformed to the Protestant faith by receiving Anglican communion at the Church of St Mary-le-Strand; a noted centre of Anglican Jacobitism. On Charles's return to France he reverted to Catholic observance.

In 1766 Charles' father died. Until his death James had been recognised as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland by the Pope, as "James III and VIII". But Clement XIII decided not to give the same recognition to Charles.

In 1772 Charles married Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern. They lived first at Rome, but in 1774 moved to Florence where Charles first began to use the title "Count of Albany" as an alias. This title is frequently used for him in European publications; his wife Louise is almost always called "Countess of Albany". In 1780 Louise left Charles. Her claim that Charles had physically abused her is probably accurate, as she had also previously started an adulterous relationship with the Italian poet, Count Vittorio Alfieri. The claims by two nineteenth century charlatans, Charles and John Allen alias John Sobieski Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart, that their father Thomas Allen was a legitimate son of Charles and Louise are without foundation.

In 1783 Charles signed an act of legitimation for his illegitimate daughter Charlotte, his child born in 1753 to Clementina Walkinshaw (later known as Countess von Alberstrof). Charles also gave Charlotte the title "Duchess of Albany" in the peerage of Scotland and the style "Her Royal Highness". But these honours did not give Charlotte any right to the succession to the throne. Charlotte lived with her father at Florence and Rome for the next five years.

Charles died in Rome on 31 January 1788. He was first buried in the Cathedral of Frascati, where his brother Henry Benedict Stuart was bishop. At Henry's death in 1807, Charles's remains were moved to the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican where they were laid to rest next to those of his brother and father. When the body of Charles Stuart was transferred to the Saint Peter's Basilica, his "praecordia" were left in Frascati Cathedral: a small urn encloses the heart of Charles, placed beneath the floor below the funerary monument.

• Monument to the Royal Stuarts
• Prince Charlie's Targe
• Touch Pieces
• Touch Pieces

• McLynn, Frank. Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts. London: Routledge, 1988.
• Kybett, Susan M. Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Biography of Charles Edward Stuart. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1988.
• Douglas, Hugh. Charles Edward Stuart. London: Hale, 1975.
• Daiches, David. Charles Edward Stuart: The Life and Ttimes of Bonnie Prince Charlie. London: Thames & Hudson, 1973.
• Chidsey, Donald Barr. Bonnie Prince Charlie. London: Williams & Norgate, 1928.

• McFerran, Noel S. Charles III
• Charles Edward Stuart, 1720-1788
• Ascanius; or, the Young Adventurer
• National Gallery of Scotland, Portrait of Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart House of Stuart Born: 31 December 1720 Died: 31 January 1788
Titles in pretence
Preceded by James VIII and III	Jacobite succession 1766–1788	Succeeded by Henry IX