CHAPTER 1

The Early Years

CHARLES EDWARD LOUIS JOHN CASIMIR SILVESTER MARIA, better known throughout history as Bonnie Prince Charlie, was born on the last day of December 1720 in the Palazzo Muti, an old palace which still stands in the Piazzo dei SS Apostoli (the Square of the Holy Apostles) in Rome.

Charles was the son of James Francis Stuart and grandson of James VII of Scotland and II of England. James VII and II was the rightful king, but he was ousted from his throne because of his adherence to the Roman Catholic faith. His daughter Mary had married William of Orange, a prince from the Netherlands. They were both of the Protestant faith, and their supporters invited them to act as regents during James Francis Stuart’s minority. He could then be raised as a Protestant and take his rightful place on the throne when he came of age. But William of Orange was not happy with the regency, and demanded the crown.

On 22 January 1689 a vote was taken in Parliament, and the Protestants won by 15 votes. It was the end of the true royal line of both Scotland and England, but many in these islands, especially in Scotland, still hankered for their true sovereign. These people became known as ‘Jacobites’, from the Latin for James, ‘Jacobus’.

Mary, William of Orange’s Queen, died childless in 1694. The ousted King James VII and II died in 1701, and William of Orange the following year. Suddenly it looked like the Stuart star was again in the ascendancy, as James Francis’s sister Anne was crowned queen. The Jacobites expected her to push for her brother to be crowned king, especially if she died childless. After all, he was the lawful and legitimate heir.

A huge blow was dealt to the people of Scotland when the Treaty of Union was forced through Parliament on 1 May 1707 against the wish of the vast majority of the people. The Scots had seen their royal line usurped, and now their identity and individuality was being eroded.

Queen Anne died in 1714, and James Francis, who was living in Paris, was regarded by many as the rightful King James VIII of Scotland and III of England. But Parliament intervened again, and it was decided by a majority of one that the crown should be offered to George of the Protestant German House of Hanover. There was consternation amongst the Jacobites in Scotland. On top of every other indignity, this Celtic people had a Saxon ruler imposed upon them. They called King George ‘the wee wee German lairdie’.

Several attempts were made to install James Francis on the throne, but for the purpose of this story, the most important event at this time was James’s marriage to Princess Clementina Maria Sobieski of Poland. At 17, she was one of the wealthiest and most eligible royals in Europe. They were married in 1718. Jacobite hearts beat a little faster when the news of Charles Edward Stuart’s birth in Rome was announced at the end of 1720. Bells rang out all over the old city, and the Pope gave a personal blessing to the little prince.

There were English spies in Rome, and soon after the birth the Hanoverian propaganda machine swung into action, the story being spread in London that Charles was born deformed and crippled, and that his mother had had such a terrible time giving birth that she would be unable to bear any more children. Both these stories were later proved to be false, o