Bonnie Prince Charlie was the son of James Francis Edward Stuart. His grandfather had been James II, King of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland who was deposed in 1668. However, there were those people who still believed that James should still be king and rose up in rebellion against the British crown. They became known as the Jacobites and they tried to restore the family to the crown. Charles mother had been Maria Clementina Sobieska of Poland. After James VII died, his supporters recognized Charles as King Charles III, but those who opposed him knew him as the "Young Pretender". Bonnie Prince Charlie was born in Italy and spent most of his life in Rome and Bologna. His first experience in battle was in 1734, when he took part in the French and Spanish siege of Gaeta. In 1743, his father gave him the title of Prince Regent and Charlie raised an army to try to restore his father to the throne. He had two ships, the Elisabeth and the Doutelle, with which he landed on Eriksay in 1745. He had hoped that the French would support him but the vessels were badly damaged in storms, so he had to try to raise an army in Scotland.
When Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his father’s standard at Glenfinnan, he was able to raise an army to march on the city of Edinburgh. This was successful and the city surrendered to him. His forces won the Battle of Prestonpans and by November he was in command of over 6000 men. When he reached Derby, he decided to turn back because he was receiving conflicting advice. The Duke of Cumberland pursued him and the result was the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army went down to defeat. The flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie is immortalized in the song "the Skye Boat Song". He took refuge in Benbecula in the /visit/scotland-tour-western.htmlOuter Hebrides and Flora MacDonald helped him to escape. He dressed as an Irish spinning maid, Betsy Burke, and was spirited across to Skye. Flora enlisted the help of villagers from Portree, while Charlie hid in a cave. He escaped to the island of Raasay, from where he caught a ship bound for France.
In France, Bonnie Prince Charlie had many affairs. For a time he lived with his Scottish mistress, who bore him a son and a daughter. When his father died in 1766, the Pope Clement XIII decided not to recognize Charles as the rightful heir to the throne as he had with his father. In 1772, Charles married Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern and the family lived in Italy. Louise left in 1780, claiming that Charles abused her. Bonnie Prince Charlie died on January 31, 1788 in Rome. He was buried at the Cathedral of Frascati, but in 1807, his remains were moved to St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to lie next to his father and brother.
