Prince
James Francis Edward Stuart (or Stewart; "
The Old Pretender";
10 June 1688 –
1 January 1766) was the son of the deposed
James II and VII, and as such laid claim to the English and Scottish thrones (as James III and VIII) from the death of his father in
1701, and was publicly proclaimed by
Louis XIV of France as the rightful heir to the English and Scottish thrones.
From the moment of his birth, on 10 June 1688, at
St. James's Palace, the prince was the subject of controversy. He was born to the reigning King, James II of England and VII of Scots, and his
Roman Catholic second wife,
Mary of Modena. From his first marriage, the king had two adult daughters who had been brought up in the
Protestant faith, and as long as there was a possibility of one of them succeeding him directly, his opponents saw his rule only as a temporary setback. When people began to fear that Mary would produce a son and heir, a movement grew to replace James by force with his elder daughter
Princess Mary & son-in-law/nephew,
Prince William III of Orange.
When the young prince was born, a false rumour was immediately spread that the call for a "warming-pan" had been the pretext for a substitution, the real baby having allegedly been born dead. Within six months of his birth, Mary of Modena on
10 December left London and took the child to
France for safety, while his father was fighting unsuccessfully to retain his crown.
The prince was brought up in France, where, recognised by King
Louis XIV of France as the rightful heir to the English and Scottish thrones, he became the focus for the
Jacobite movement. On his father's death in
1701, he declared himself King, with the title of James III and VIII and recognised as such by
France, Spain, the
Papal States and
Modena. All of these states refused to recognise
William III, Mary II or
Queen Anne as the legitimate British sovereign.
Having been delayed in France by an attack of
measles, James
attempted an invasion, with an unsuccessful attempt to land at the
Firth of Forth on
23 March 1708, but his French ships were driven back by the fleet of
Admiral Sir George Byng. Had he renounced his Roman Catholic faith, he might have succeeded to the throne after the death of his half-sister Anne, but he refused to do so. As a result, in
1714, a German Protestant became King
George I of Great Britain.
French forces were defeated, and
Louis XIV of France was forced to accept peace with England and her allies. He signed the
Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, that, amongst other conditions, required him to expel James from France.
In the following year, the Jacobites instigated
"The 'Fifteen" Jacobite rising in Scotland, aimed at restoring "James III and VIII" to the throne. In 1715, James finally set foot on Scottish soil, following the indecisive
Battle of Sheriffmuir, but he was disappointed by the strength of support he found. Instead of carrying through the plans for a coronation at Scone, he returned to France, sailing from
Montrose. He was not welcomed back, because his patron,
Louis XIV, was dead and the government found him an embarrassment. Pope
Clement XI offered James the
Palazzo Muti in
Rome as his residence. During the pontificate of
Innocent XIII, the Pretender organized his court in the Palazzo Muti: Innocent XIII, like his predecessor, showed much favour to the Stuarts, and liberally supported him: the cousin of this Pope, Francesco Maria Conti, from
Siena, was here the
Gentiluomo di camera (Chamberlain) in the little roman jacobite court.
On
3 September 1719, James Francis Edward Stuart married
Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–35), granddaughter of the
Polish king,
John III Sobieski. They had two sons:
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Charles Edward Stuart, (
31 December 1720 –
31 January 1788), aka
"''Bonnie Prince Charlie''"
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Henry Benedict Stuart, (
11 March 1725 –
13 July 1807), Cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church
Following James's failure, attention turned to his handsome and charismatic son, "
Bonnie Prince Charlie", whose rebellion of
1745 came closer to success than his father's. With the failure of this second rebellion, however, the Stuart hopes of regaining the British throne were effectively destroyed. James died in
Rome on
1 January 1766, and is buried in
St. Peter's Basilica at the
Vatican.
