| Administrative History | James Francis Edward Stuart was born in 1688, the only surviving son of James VII and Mary of Modena. Rumours were put about from his birth saying that he was in fact an imposter. He was brought up in France and, on his father's death in 1701, he was declared King there though this was not legally recognised as he was a Catholic. He was encouraged to claim his kingdom following the 1707 Act of Union, but the voyage was abortive and he returned to France without landing. He fought with the French forces in the following years until rising Jacobite sympathy persuaded him to sail once again for Scotland, only to find that the Jacobite forces were already, following the Battle of Sheriffmuir, in disarray. James spent some weeks in Scotland before escaping once again to France. He lived first in Lorraine, then in Italy, then in Spain, where he participated in an ill-fated expedition against England. He moved to Rome and married Clementina Sobieski, the granddaughter of the King of Poland. They had two sons, Charles Edward (later named the Young Pretender, 1720 - 1788) and Henry Benedict (1725 - 1807), but suffered marital unhappiness. He took no active part in the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, and after it was alienated from his son Charles Edward. He died in Rome in 1766 and is buried there. |
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