Bonnie Prince Charlie: Charles Edward Stuart (Pimlico) Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  About the Author

  List of Illustrations

  List of maps

  Chronology

  Title Page

  Preface

  Introduction

  1. A Man Born to be King (1720–6)

  2. Bologna and Rome (1726–33)

  3. The Prince over the Water (1734–7)

  4. ‘The breath of kings’ (1737–41)

  5. Falling backward (1739–42)

  6. ‘Father’s Sorrow, father’s joy’ (1743–4)

  7. The New Byzantium (March–September 1744)

  8. ‘Chaos of thought and passion’ (October–December 1744)

  9. ‘Do or Die’ (January–July 1745)

  10. The News from Moidart (July–August 1745)

  11. ‘That sweet aspect of Princes’ (September 1745)

  12. ‘Wha widna’ fecht for Charlie’ (September–October 1745)

  13. Invasion! (October–December 1745)

  14. A Second Anabasis (November–December 1745)

  15. ‘Mired in shallows’ (January 1746)

  16. ‘Climbing up the Climbing Wave’ (February–March 1746)

  17. The Night March (March–April 1746)

  18. Débâcle (April 1746)

  19. The Prince in the Heather (April–June 1746)

  20. Over the Sea to Skye (June–July 1746)

  21. His Finest Hour (July–September 1746)

  22. ‘Fall like Lucifer’ (October 1746–April 1747)

  23. Betrayal and Rebirth (April 1747–February 1748)

  24. A New Mistress (March–August 1748)

  25. ‘A Great Prince in Prison Lies’ (August–December 1748)

  26. The Prince in Fairyland (January–February 1749)

  27. ‘Imaginary Space’ (1749–51)

  28. The Elibank Plot (1749–53)

  29. Trust in Princes (1752–4)

  30. Folly of Princes (1754–8)

  31. ‘Never to hope again’ (1758–60)

  32. ‘Endless Night’ (1760–4)

  33. ‘To the sunless land’ (1765–6)

  34. ‘King Charles III’ (1766–70)

  35. A Royal Marriage (1771–4)

  36. The Queen of Hearts (1774–80)

  37. ‘A Man Undone’ (1780–4)

  38. The Duchess of Albany (1784–8)

  Conclusion

  Abbreviations

  Picture Section

  Notes

  Index

  Bibliography

  Copyright

  About the Book

  In this highly acclaimed study, Frank McLynn brings vividly before us the man Charles Edward Stuart who became known to legend as Bonnie Prince Charlie and whose unsuccessful challenge to the Hanoverian throne was followed by the crushing defeat at Culloden in 1746. He argues powerfully that failure was far from inevitable and history in 1745 came close to taking a quite different turn.

  About the Author

  Frank McLynn is currently Visiting Professor in the Department of Literature at Strathclyde University. His most recent books include Carl Gustav Jung (short-listed for the 1997 NCR Award), Napoleon, 1066, Villa and Zapata, and Wagons West.

  List of Illustrations

  1 James Francis Edward, the prince’s father

  2 Maria Clementina, the prince’s mother

  3 Palazzo Muti

  4 Henry, the prince’s brother

  5 The young prince (David)

  6 Piazza del Popolo

  7 Piazza Navona

  8 Palazzo Odescalchi

  9 The prince in 1746

  10 The prince in 1748

  11 Henry, as Cardinal York

  12 Battle of ‘Fontenoy’

  13 Benedict XIV

  14 Lord George Murray

  15 Earl Marischal

  16 ‘A hint to the wise’

  17 ‘A race from Preston Pans to Berwick’

  18 ‘The Balance’

  19 Battle of ‘Culloden’

  List of maps

  1 Jacobite Europe

  2 Prince Charles’ route

  Chronology of the Principal Events in the Life of Charles Edward Stuart (1720–88)

  31 December 1720 Born at Rome.

  1725 Birth of his brother Henry.

  November 1725 His mother, Clementina Sobieska leaves James for a convent.

  1726–8 The prince at Bologna with his father, James, ‘the old Pretender’.

  1728 Reunion with his mother and return to Rome.

  1734 Gaeta campaign.

  1735 Death of Clementina Sobieska.

  1737 The prince’s tour of northern Italy.

  1738 Death of 2nd duke of Berwick (Liria).

  9 January 1744 Departs Rome for France.

  February–March 1744 At Gravelines with French invasion force.

  April 1744–June 1745 In France (Paris, Fitzjames, Navarre).

  July 1745 Sails from Nantes and Belle-Isle for Scotland.

  3 August (NS) Lands in Scotland.

  19 August (OS) Raises the standard at Glenfinnan.

  17 September Enters Edinburgh.

  21 September Defeats Cope at Prestonpans.

  21 September–1 November In Edinburgh.

  8 November Invades England.

  5 December Council at Derby insists on retreat.

  20 December Re-enters Scotland.

  17 January 1746 Defeats Hawley at Falkirk.

  1 February Retreat to the Highlands commences.

  Mid-February–mid-April The prince based at Inverness.

  16 April 1746 Defeated by Cumberland at Culloden.

  17 April–20 September The prince in the heather.

  10 October (NS) The prince arrives at Roscoff.

  October 1746–January 1747 The prince in and around Paris.

  January–March His embassy to Madrid via Avignon.

  May His brother Henry departs secretly for Rome.

  July The prince hears that Henry has been made a cardinal.

  Autumn 1747–January 1748 Affair with Louise de Montbazon.

  February 1748 Beginning of affair with the Princesse de Talmont.

  10 December 1748 His arrest and confinement in the Chateau de Vincennes, followed by expulsion from France.

  27 December 1748 He reaches Avignon.

  February 1749 Leaves Avignon to begin the ‘obscure years’.

  May 1749 In Venice.

  1749–52 The prince based in Luneville. End of the affair with the Princesse de Talmont.

  1752–4 Based in Ghent and Liège. Renews liaison with Clementina Walkinshaw. Failure of the Elibank Plot. Birth of his daughter Charlotte (1753).

  1754–6 Final break with Marischal and effective end of Jacobitism. The prince in Basle with Clementina.

  1756–8 In Liège.

  1758–65 The prince based at Bouillon.

  1759 Negotiations with Choiseul over projected French invasion of England.

  1760 Clementina Walkinshaw leaves him, taking Charlotte with her.

  1765 The prince renews contact with Henry.

  1 January 1766 Death of his father James.

  1766 The prince returns to Rome but is not recognised as ‘Charles III’ by the Pope.

  1766–74 The prince based in Rome.

  1772 Marriage to Louise of Stolberg.

  1774–86 The prince based in Florence.

  1778–80 Louise of Stolberg’s affair with Alfieri.

  1780 Louise flees to a convent.

  1783–4 Visit of Gustav III of Sweden.

  1784 Recognises Charlotte as his legitimat
e daughter and makes her duchess of Albany.

  1786 Returns to Rome with his daughter.

  30 January 1788 Dies in Rome, aged 67.

  Preface

  There has never been a comprehensive scholarly biography of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. That deficiency, is, I think, sufficient justification for the labour expended in a twelve-year Odyssey in the world of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, a journey that also produced my first three books on the Jacobites. I have consulted nearly 100,000 individual documents in the Stuart papers and tens of thousands in other manuscript collections, especially in the Vatican archives. To the best of my knowledge, much of this material has never been used before. Yet a biography can never be purely a work of antiquarian research. I have benefited greatly from wide reading in the literature on childhood, and I have found many psychoanalytical studies and psychohistorical methodologies useful.

  I must first of all thank Her Majesty the Queen for allowing me to work in her archives. Then I must explain two procedural decisions I have taken that may offend purists. While leaving eighteenth-century punctuation intact, I have taken the liberty of tidying up Charles Edward’s eccentric spelling. He was an atrocious speller, and I personally find that his letters when reproduced in all their pristine orthography distract one from the content of what he is saying. The other decision I have taken is to switch from New Style dates to Old Style during the period of the ’45 itself. In the mid-eighteenth century there was an eleven-day difference in the two styles, but since the great events of the ’45 are all known by Old Style dates (e.g. ‘Black Friday’ as 5 December 1745 OS, not 16 December NS; Culloden as 16 April 1746 not 27 April), I have retained the traditional dates. All dates before and after the ’45 are New Style. Since long sea-voyages provide natural intervals both as prelude and sequel to the ’45, no confusion arises.

  Anyone attempting to write a biography of this scope is bound to end up owing a considerable debt to dozens of (usually nameless) individuals, librarians and archivists of many different tongues and cultures. But there are some individuals who have helped me ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ whom I must mention by name. Over the years I have had many interesting conversations about the Jacobites and their world with friends. In this category I would particularly like to mention Jack Lindsay, Eveline Cruickshanks and Jeremy Black. Then there are the people who helped me by smoothing the ways to archives. Here a special mention is due to Mgr Charles Burns of the Vatican Archives, Father Francis Edwards SJ, curator of the Farm Street archive, and Dom Geoffrey Scott of Douai Abbey. I have spent many fascinating hours discussing the workings of the unconscious with the distinguished Australian psychoanalyst Dr George Christie. Sir Oliver Millar generously gave me his expert advice in finding suitable illustrations. Miss Jane Langton and her successor as Registrar of the Royal Archives at Windsor, Mrs Sheila De Bellaigue, went to extraordinary lengths to help me in my quest. I must thank also those scholars with whom I corresponded and who helped me by shedding light in their particular area of expertise: Professor L. L. Bongie (the Prince’s ladies), Dr Rohan Butler (Choiseul), Dr J. Rogister (Louis XV).

  My list of acknowledgments would not be complete without mention of my editor at Routledge, Andrew Wheatcroft, who was enthusiastic about the project from the very start and who, as both a writer and an editor himself, was uniquely placed to appreciate the problems involved in writing such a work. But lastly and mostly, I must thank my wife Pauline both for her ‘in house’ editing and for her tolerance in enduring a thousand and one days and nights of Charles Edward arcana.

  Twickenham, January 1987

  Introduction

  On Christmas Day 1688 a tired and broken man arrived with his family at the French port of Ambleteuse, on his way to Versailles to ask Louis XIV for sanctuary. The man was James II, king of England, expelled from his kingdom by William of Orange in what was to be known to history as the ‘Glorious Revolution’. With him was his queen, Mary of Modena, and a six-month-old son, James Francis Edward. Thus was born the Jacobite movement. Neither the infant James Francis nor his son Charles Edward was ever to regain the throne of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland for the Stuart family. But both their lives would be dominated and ultimately destroyed by the effects of that fateful year 1688.

  James Francis Edward Stuart grew up in the chateau of St Germain, which Louis XIV made over to the exiled James II. His early years saw the successive disappointment of all Jacobite hopes of restoration, whether by war of diplomacy. All Louis XIV’s tireless efforts on the Stuarts’ behalf came to nothing.1 At the death of William of Orange (William III of England) in 1701, and again on the demise of James’s daughter Anne in 1714, Jacobite aspirations soared only to plummet.2 The end of 1714 saw the House of Hanover shakily ensconced on the throne of England. After the failure of the 1715 Jacobite rising, the Hanoverian tenure was more secure, though still very far from unshakeable.3

  The one unquestionable stroke of good fortune young James Francis enjoyed in these years was to be recognised by Louis XIV as James III, de jure king of England, after his father’s death in 1701. But how strongly personal was Louis XIV’s attachment to the Stuarts soon became clear after 1713. The conclusion of the War of Spanish Successsion forced French interests to override the idiosyncraces of Le Roi Soleil. The Jacobite court was politely moved on: James III became ‘Jamie the Rover’, doomed to a series of rebuffs and disappointments.4

  There are two things to note about the young life of James III at St Germain (until 1713). One was his physical bravery. At the murderous battle of Malplaquet (1711) James distinguished himself by pronounced, almost reckless courage. The other was his stoicism. He came under the influence of Archbishop Fénelon of Cambrai, who inculcated a detached resignation to life’s buffetings and a quiet acceptance of God’s Providence. This ‘quietism’ was later to be the source of much friction with his son.5

  But as a politician James was a disaster. He had no power to move men. He was utterly lacking in charisma. He seemed to be singularly ill-starred, almost as if he had the Midas touch in reverse. The Jacobite rising of 1715 was a chilling demonstration of this. Detained on the Continent by adverse weather, James arrived in Scotland early in 1716 to find that his cause was already lost. His attempts to rally the clansmen by the force of his own personality led to humiliation for him and accelerated ruin for his Scottish supporters.6

  James’s fortunes in Europe were no better. Expelled from St Germain by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, he moved his miniature court onwards, unable for years to find a satisfactory base. He was successively in Bar (Lorraine), Avignon and Urbino. Finally, after much acrimonious negotiation with the Pope, James took up permanent residence at the Palazzo Muti in Rome.

  The Palazzo Muti was no architectural masterpiece. The exterior was unprepossessing, and put in the shade by the glories of the church of Santi Apostoli adjacent to it on the Piazza. The Palazzo Muti was built around a square courtyard with ochred walls overlooking a small fountain in the centre. A dark, steep staircase led up from the entrance hall to the piano nobile where some semblance of regal atmosphere was imposed on the unpromising raw material.

  Even before coming to Rome from Urbino, James had combined his plans for another Jacobite rising with his hopes for a suitable wife. James had thought seriously of marriage ever since the failure of the 1715 rising and the decline into terminal illness of his mother Mary of Modena (she died of cancer in 1718). His first choice was Benedicta, daughter of the duke of Modena; she reminded him of his mother both in looks and titles. James claimed to love Benedicta passionately. The duke of Modena was made of sterner stuff. He weighed James’s restoration prospects in the balance and found them wanting.7

  James’s quest for a wife now became less sentimental and more hard-headed. Charles Wogan, one of the heroes of the ’15, whom James had employed as an agent in Russia, was a dashing cavalier, likely to impress the great ladies of Europe. James sent him on a mission to scour the courts o
f Germany for a likely bride.8 Wogan saw no one who fitted the bill in Westphalia or Bavaria, but at Ohlau in Silesia he met and was deeply impressed with Maria Clementina Sobieska, youngest daughter of the Polish Prince James Sobieski. The Sobieskis were one of Poland’s great families. It was Clementina’s grandfather John Sobieski who had turned back the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683.9

  Convinced that he had found the right woman for his king, Wogan returned to Italy. He described the sixteen-year-old Clementina to James. She was small and delicate, brown-haired, black-eyed and full of the spirited courage of the Sobieskis.10 James sent to Silesia to ask for her hand. The Jacobite suit was accepted without demur.

  There is something curious about James’s headlong dash into matrimony at the age of thirty. It was almost as though, having rejected sentiment as the basis for marriage after his disappointment with Benedicta of Modena, he became indifferent about his future partner, provided she satisfied the necessary minimum requirements for a royal bride. No doubt the fabled wealth of the Sobieskis, who were major creditors of the Polish state, had something to do with it. But if James had exercised his usual caution, he might have probed more deeply into the background of his future queen. Had he done so, he would have discovered a far from auspicious heredity. James Sobieski was a depressive, probably from the burden of living in the shadow of a famous father. Clementina’s mother, a daughter of the Prince Palatine, was beautiful and elegant but feather-brained and unstable. Already this legacy had tilted Maria Clementina in the direction of excessive piety.

  None of this seems to have been considered at the time. After so many rebuffs in so many different areas of his life, James was overjoyed to have achieved acceptance. He prepared to receive Clementina in Bologna.

  The future queen and her party set out for Italy, ostensibly on a pilgrimage to Loreto. But word of the real purpose of her journey leaked out. Determined to stop the marriage, which would breed fresh pretenders to his English throne, George I brought pressure on the Austrian Emperor to have the Sobieski party arrested. Because of Clementina’s dilatoriness at Augsburg, the arresting troops caught up with her at Innsbruck in October 1718.11