Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the grandson of the deposed James II and the Stuart claimant who led the Jacobite rising of 1745. Landing in Scotland with limited support, he captured Edinburgh and advanced into England before retreating.
The Jacobite army was decisively defeated at Culloden in April 1746, and Charles escaped after months in hiding. His later life in exile was marked by disappointment, heavy drinking and failed political schemes. Charles Edward Stuart was born in Palazzo Muti.
In G. A. Henty’s Bonnie Prince Charlie, Historical figures including Charles Edward Stuart and Prince William, Duke of Cumberland connect the fictional action directly to the documented events. In Nigel Tranter’s Gold for Prince Charlie, Culloden has destroyed the Jacobite army, and Prince Charles Edward Stuart is a fugitive with a government reward on his head. Charles Edward Stuart is treated fictionally in Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley, Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ The Maiden, Malcolm Archibald’s Blood Oath, and S. G. MacLean’s The Bookseller of Inverness.