Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender
Perhaps regarded the main protagonist in the culmination of the Jacobite story, Charles Edward Stuart was born in Rome on the 31st of December 1720 and was the grandson of the James VII of Scotland and II of England.
His father, James Francis Stuart had been deposed and then exiled to Rome in favour of his protestant half-sister Mary II and her husband William III in the 1688 revolution, known as the Glorious Revolution to Hanoverian supporters.
Following the previous attempts from his father, Charles’ attempt culminated in the Jacobite rising of 1745. This included successful battles at Prestonpans in East Lothian and the Battle of Falkirk Muir, however the Battle of Culloden was to be their last. On the 16 April 1746 near Inverness, The Duke of Cumberland and his British government forces squashed the Jacobite cause for the final time, with Charles fleeing to France.
Several depictions of the Stuart family were disseminated particularly to fuel propaganda. Most notable are pictures by Antonio David (Italian 1698 - 1750), the official painter for the Stuart family while they were exiled in Rome. David had been painting for the Stuart court for many years, including creating childhood likenesses of the boys. The slightly later pair, although very similar to the childhood portraits, present the Princes in more mature apparel, with Henry sporting a breast plate under his elaborate jacket and Charles in full armour, possibly in reference to his first military experience, witnessing the siege of Gaeta in 1734.
Charles died at the age of 67 of a stroke in Rome. His body is buried in the Monument to the Royal Stuarts created by Antonio Canova in 1819 at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.