Prince Charles Edward Stuart

Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788) was the first son of James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender. He was born in Rome, the grandson of James VII and II of Britain who had been deposed during the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. Charles Edward regarded his father as the rightful heir to the British throne.<br /> <br /> After his father's failed Jacobite rising of 1715, Charles Edward, or Bonnie Prince Charlie, led the Jacobite rising of 1745 in an attempt to reclaim the throne for the Stuart kings. The rising started well and the Jacobites reached Derby in England before they retreated to the Highlands of Scotland. The Jacobite army met the government army at Culloden Moor in April 1746. The last pitched battle fought on British soil was over in less than an hour and, with it, the Jacobite Rising.<br /> <br /> After the defeat at Culloden Bonnie Prince Charlie became the most wanted man in Britain but managed to escape to France with the help of Flora MacDonald. He lived out his life in exile in Rome, having an illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, before marrying Louise Maximilienne Caroline in 1772. He died in Rome in 1788.<br /> <br /> This portrait was taken from 'Ascanius: or the Young Adventurer: a True History', from a private pamphlet handed around at the Court of Versailles