Bonnie Prince Charles Sails for Scotland

Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Maria Stuart (December 31, 1720 - January 31, 1788), was the exiled claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and was commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. Charles was the son of James Francis Edward Stuart who was in turn the son of King James II of England and Ireland (James VII of Scotland), who had been deposed in 1688. The Jacobite movement tried to restore the family to the throne. Charless mother was James’s Polish-born wife, Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702?1735). After his fathers death Charles was recognized as King Charles III by his supporters; his opponents referred to him as The Young Pretender.

Set Sails for Scotland

In December 1743, Charles father named him Prince Regent, giving him full authority to act in his name. Eighteen months later he led a rising to restore his father to his thrones. Charles raised funds to fit out two ships; the Elisabeth, an old man-of-war of sixty-six guns and a small frigate of sixteen guns named the Doutelle (le Du Teillay). Prince Charles Edward Stuart sails for Scotland from Nantes, Brittany with seven companions on July 02, 1745. He successfully landed him with his seven companions at Eriskay on July 23, 1745. Charles had hoped to be supported by a French fleet but this was badly damaged by storms and he was left to raise an army in Scotland.

Jacobite Uprising

The Jacobite cause was still supported by many Highland Clans, both Catholic and Protestant, and the Catholic Charles hoped for a warm welcome from these clans to start an insurgency by Jacobites throughout Britain, but there was no immediate response

Charles raised his fathers standard at Glenfinnan and there raised a large enough force to enable him to march on the city of Edinburgh, which quickly surrendered. On 21 September 1745 he defeated the only government army in Scotland at the Battle of Prestonpans, and by November was marching south at the head of around 6,000 men. Having taken Carlisle Charles army progressed as far as Derby. Here, despite the objections of the Prince, the decision was taken by his council to return to Scotland, largely because of the almost complete lack of the support from English Jacobites that Charles had promised. By now he was pursued by the kings son, the Duke of Cumberland, who caught up with him at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, and inflicted a heavy defeat on the half-starved and demoralized Jacobite army.

Skye Boat Song

Bonnie Prince Charlies subsequent flight has become the stuff of legend, and is commemorated in the popular folk song The Skye Boat Song (lyrics 1884, tune traditional) and also the old Irish song Bímse Buan ar Buairt Gach Ló by Seán Clárach. Assisted by loyal supporters such as Flora Macdonald, he escaped the country aboard the French frigate LHeureux, arriving back in France in September. The cause of the Stuarts being lost, the remainder of his life was - with a brief exception - spent in exile.