Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart, born on 31 December 1720 and dying on 30 January 1788, was the eldest son of James Francis Edward Stuart. This made him the grandson of James VII and II, and from 1766 he was the Stuart family’s claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He went by several names: the Young Pretender, the Young Chevalier, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and to his Jacobite supporters, Charles III. He is best known for leading the unsuccessful Jacobite Rising of 1745, an attempt to put the Stuart dynasty back on the thrones. He was born in Rome to the exiled Stuart court and spent most of his early and later life in Italy. In 1744, he went to France to join a planned invasion of England meant to restore his father as king. When storms heavily damaged the French fleet, Charles decided, after talking with leading Jacobites, to go to Scotland instead. He landed by ship on Scotland’s west coast, sparking the 1745 rising. His Jacobite forces won several early battles, including Prestonpans in September 1745 and Falkirk Muir in January 1746. But by April 1746, he was defeated at Culloden, which effectively ended the Stuart cause. Later attempts, like a planned French invasion in 1759, failed to restore the monarchy. After the Jacobite cause collapsed, Charles spent the rest of his life on the continent, apart from one secret trip to London. He lived briefly in France but was exiled in 1748 under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. He eventually returned to Italy, spending much of his later years in Florence and Rome. He had several mistresses before marrying Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern in 1772. In his later years, his health worsened, and he was described as an alcoholic. Still, his adventures during the 1745–46 uprising and his escape from Scotland turned him into a romantic symbol of heroic failure. His life and the near possibility of a Stuart restoration left a lasting historical legend that continued into the late 20th century. **Early life**

**Childhood and education: 1720–1734**

Charles was born on 31 December 1720 at the Palazzo Muti in Rome, where Pope Clement XI had given his father a home. Historians disagree on who performed his baptism: Kybett says it was Pope Clement, while Douglas and Pininski say it was the Bishop of Montefiascone. He was named Charles after his great-grandfather, Edward after Edward the Confessor, Louis for the King of France, Casimir after the kings of Poland, and Sylvester because he was born on Saint Sylvester’s Day. He was the son of the Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart (himself the son of the exiled King James II and VII), and Maria Clementina Sobieska, a Polish noblewoman and granddaughter of John III Sobieski. His grandfather, James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland, had ruled from 1685 to 1688 before being deposed when the English Parliament invited the Dutch Protestant William III and his wife, Princess Mary (James’s eldest daughter), to replace him in the Revolution of 1688. Many Protestants, including prominent parliamentarians, feared James aimed to return England fully to Catholicism. After James’s exile and the Act of Settlement, the Jacobite Cause worked to restore the Stuarts to the thrones of England and Scotland, which had been united in 1603 under James VI and I, with their parliaments merged by the Acts of Union in 1707 into the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a young child, Charles reportedly had weak legs, possibly from rickets. He was put through exercise and dancing to strengthen his constitution, and his legs improved. He spent much of his early childhood in Rome and Bologna with a small retinue and a close but often quarrelsome family. His brother Henry Benedict Stuart was born five years later, on 6 March 1725. His parents frequently argued, mainly over James’s choice of Protestant tutors. One notable incident saw Clementina leave the palace shortly after Henry’s birth in 1725 and move to a convent, not returning until 1727. As the legitimate heir to the thrones according to the Jacobite succession, James and his household lived with pride and a firm belief in the divine right of kings. Charles spent much of his early years around older men, several of whom were his tutors. His governor was the Protestant James Murray, Jacobite Earl of Dunbar. Though the Pope worried about Charles’s religious education under a Protestant, James agreed Charles would be raised Catholic. His tutors included the Chevalier Ramsay, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and Father Vinceguerra, a Catholic priest. He became fluent in English, French, and Italian, though it was said he never fully mastered any language and was partially illiterate. As a child, he reportedly enjoyed hunting, horsemanship, a form of golf, music, and dancing. **Travels in Europe: 1734–1745**

In 1734, his cousin the Duke of Liria, on his way to join Don Carlos in the fight for the crown of Naples, passed through Rome. He offered to take Charles along, and the thirteen-year-old was appointed general of artillery by Don Carlos.