Prince Charles Edward Stuart


(Bonnie Prince Charlie)

1720 - 1788

Bonnie Prince Charlie
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Bonnie Prince Charlie

The "Young Pretender". Born in the Palazzo Muti in Rome, grandson of King James VII of Scotland (James II of England), who was exiled by William of Orange. The French-backed Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was intended to restore the Stuarts to the throne, to which he regarded his father (James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender) to be rightful heir.

He landed on Eriskay on the 23rd July 1745 and raised his standard at Glenfinnan three weeks later, having gathered a sizeable fighting force of Highlanders. Despite initial successes, the rebellion ended in disarray and bloody defeat at Culloden (in 1746). Stuart was pursued by Government troops across Scotland but eventually escaped to France with the help of Flora MacDonald. He travelled to London in secret in 1750 and was involved in a French plan to invade England in 1759, which came to nothing. Stuart lived comfortably in exile, but died despondent and a drunk. He is buried with his father and younger brother in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.


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