Jacobite Rebellion Of 1745

9 Pages 2135 Words

I. Prince Charles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Stuart was born to his parents, James “III” of England and Clementina Sobieska of Poland, on December 31, 1720 in Rome, Italy. As Charles was the grandson of James II, former King of England, letters of congratulations and support immediately poured in from those who celebrated the continuation of the catholic claim to the English throne. “Bonnie Prince Charlie” was immediately baptized as a member of the Catholic faith in the presence of the Pope himself, and word spread throughout Europe of the newborn.
Publicly, Charles was claimed to be a healthy, strong, well-built child who quickly mastered English, French, and Italian. Stuart supporters took great pride in this reported potential, but the stories were far from the truth. In reality, Charles was an extremely weak child who did not walk until the age of four. Even at this point Charles required assistance, which came mostly from his nurse Mrs. Sheldon, whom had been hired by James and Clementina to raise the boy. Intellectually, Charles may have been even less impressive. Although it was claimed that Charles mastered multiple languages in childhood, he never in his life quite grasped English; he was more than twenty when he began to study French, and he never learned Italian. In letters written in his adult years, Charles would exhibit horrid spelling capabilities by writing “God nose” in place of “God knows” or “gems” for “James”. His educational destitution has been attributed to the focus placed on physical development in his early years, but Charles never displayed an interest in mental stimulation. James recruited countless renowned educational trainers from around the world; all of them failed to inspire or instigate Charles and his less-than-gifted mind.
For three years, beginning when Charles was less than five years old, the young prince’s life was plagued with familial scandal an...