January 31st 1788 saw the death of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, in Rome.
At Culloden, as any hope of victory drifted from the Jacobites, it was noted that the Prince wanted to charge forth in a bid to break the enemy. It was ordered that Charles was removed from the field for his safety with the Prince apparently crying “They won’t take me alive!”.
After being taken from the field, he attempted to return to the fray before being removed removed once again by a Scottish officer who seized his horse's bridle and moved him away from the battle.
After the '45 uprising Stuart slid into a life of obscurity. He ended his days as an alcoholic in Rome with a failed marriage behind him, and his dreams of a Stuart restoration unfulfilled.
I have highlighted the prince's life in many posts before, let's look at what happened afterwards.......
So what of the Jacobites? Well on Charlie’s death in, his brother, Henry Benedict, became Henry IX of England and I of Scotland. But, as a Roman Catholic cardinal, it was with him that the direct, legitimate line ended on his death in 1807. By this time the beleaguered cardinal, who had witnessed the French Revolution (and lost the financial support of his Bourbon cousin in the process) had begun receiving an annual pension of £4,000 from George III – yes, from the very Hanoverian monarch or, ‘usurper’, as he was tagged, that his father and brother had fought so hard, and at such great cost, to remove from the British throne. Henry, unlike his father and brother, did not press his claim. However, the current official Jacobite claimant, according to the Royal Stuart Society, is Franz von Bayern of the House of Wittelsbach, a prince of Bavaria and the great-grandson of the last king of Bavaria, Ludwig III. Franz von Bayern – or, as Jacobites call him, Francis II – became the Jacobite de jure king in 1996, and is descended from the youngest daughter of Charles I (Princess Henrietta-Anne) via the House of Savoy and the House of Este. He has no intention of pressing his claim.
It is claimed that there are other direct descendants, Charles had an illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, who herself had three daughters, a secret grandson, said to be buried in Dunkeld Cathedral grounds, then there's the latest "claimant" a Peter Pininski who turned up in 2002, when asked the question "will ye no come back again?" to which he said "It is not my job to revive a crusade. My job is to see an undisclosed footnote to history published."
So how many more are waiting on the sidelines ready to reclaim and resurrect the Stuarts as our monarch? Who knows? What I can tell you is that half of all the men who carry the surnames Stewart, or Stuart, are descended from Scotland's royal family so if you are reading this and you bear that name, in either spelling, why not sharpen your claymore and join the line of Jacobites waiting to be the tartan messiah, beware though I have only mentioned two of several men who say they are the de facto King of Scotland.
And what of Oor Chairlie? Well after his death, his brother ordered that his body be conveyed to Frascati Cathedral, where he was bishop. His remained were later moved to the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican where they were laid to rest next to those of his brother and his father near the monument to the Royal Stuarts, which was paid for by George III! They must have been turning in their graves. His heart, however, remained in Frascati Cathedral, where it is held in a small urn beneath the floor. In the Cathedral there is a funerary monument to Charles. The monument is some eleven feet in height and of white marble; it is surmounted by the royal arms in bronze. The Latin inscription reads as follows:
HEIC SITVS EST KAROLVS·ODOARDVS CVI·PATER JACOBVS·III· REX·ANGLIAE·SCOTIAE·FRANCIAE HIBERNIAE PRIMUS·NATORUM PATERNI·IVRIS·ET·REGIAE·DIGNITATIS SVCCESSOR·ET·HERES QVI·DOMICILIO·SIBI·ROMAE·DELECTO COMES·ALBANYENSIS· DICTVS·EST VIXIT·ANNOS·LXVII·ET·MENSEM DECESSIT·IN·PACE· PRIDIE·KAL·FEBR·ANNO·M·DCC·LXXXVIII· HENRICVS·CARD·EPISC·TVSCVLAN· CVI·FRATERNA·IVRA·TITVLIQ·CESSERE DVCIS·EBORACENSIS·APPELLATIONE·RESVMPTA IN·IPSO·LVCTV·AMORI·ET·REVERENTIAE·OBSEQVVTVS INDICTO·IN·TEMPLVM·SVVM·FVNERE MVLTIS·CVM·LACRIMIS·PRAESENS·IVSTA·PERSOLVIT FRATRI·AVGVSTISSIMO HONOREMQUE·SEPVLCRI·AMPLIOREM DESTINAVIT
Here lies Charles Edward, whose father [was] James the Third, King of England, Scotland, France [and] Ireland. First born, [he was] successor and heir to his father's rights and royal dignity. At his beloved residence at Rome [he] was called Count of Albany. He lived sixty-six years and one month. He died in peace January 31, 1788. Henry, Cardinal Bishop of Frascati, to whom his brother's rights and titles fell, having resumed the title of Duke of York, in his very grief, love, and respect, obeying at the funeral appointed for his own church, with many tears, being present, he performed the obsequies, and decreed for his most august brother the highest honours of the tomb.
When the body of King Charles III was transferred to the Basilica di San Pietro, his praecordia meaning parts of the heart, were left here in a lead urn placed beneath the floor; the word "PRAECORDIA" inscribed in the marble floor marks the spot immediately below the funerary monument. On the urn containing the praecordia, there is an Italian inscription written by the Abbate Felice:
DI CARLO IL FREDDO CUORE, QUESTA BREVE URNA SERRA - FIGLIO DEL TERZO GIACOMO, SIGNOR DELL' INGHILTERRA.
FUORI DEL REGNO PATRIO A LUI CHI TOMBA DIEDE? INFIDELTÀ DI POPOLO - INTEGRITÀ DI FEDE!
Translated to
This small urn encloses the cold heart of Charles, son of the Third James, Lord of England.
Who gave him a tomb outside his paternal kingdom? O the infidelity of his people! O the integrity of his faith!
To finish I will just add a few words about the Prince from Chairman of the 1745 Association.... "Outlander shows the Prince as a small man with a high-pitched voice, representing him as a religious fanatic who recklessly launched a campaign which had no chance of success," he said. "In fact, he stood at 5'10" – tall by the standards of the day – and was a powerful orator, as shown by the call to arms to his men on the eve of the battle of Prestonpans."
"He was a highly intelligent individual who advocated religious tolerance and had a clear and credible strategy to regain the throne, which might well have succeeded had the Jacobite leadership followed his plea to continue the advance onto London from Derby."
Pics are a painting of an old "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and the monument at Frascati Cathedral about 25 miles from Vatican City and the rest of his remains.
