Flight of the Last Stuart King

Margaret Stenhouse

Description

In 1798, when Napoleon invades Rome, Cardinal Henry Stuart, the last direct heir of the royal House of Stuart, is forced to flee south to seek refuge in the Kingdom of Naples. This is only the beginning of an adventurous two-year journey that drives him on to Sicily, Corfu, Padua and Venice, bringing him into contact with many key figures of the period, like Horatio Nelson, Lord and Lady Hamilton, the volatile Queen of Naples, the spy master Spiridion Foresti, the Ottoman commander Bey Abdul-Kadir and the reluctant Pope Pius VII, elected after a stormy conclave and crowned with a papier-mache tiara. Set against the background of the Napoleonic wars and one of the most turbulent periods of change in European history, the flight of Henry IX, the Jacobite's last Stuart king, is a little known and extraordinary story.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528962247
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Flight of the Last Stuart King
Margaret Stenhouse
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-05-31
The Flight of the Last Stuart King About the Author About the Book Dedication Copyright Information Preface Part 1 Frascati February 9th, 1798 The Cardinal of the Organs The Fig Tree Inn La Molara Velletri to Formia January–February 1797 The Land of the Living Dead Terracina and St Andrew’s Pass The Weeping Madonnas Carnival and Lent Part 2 Naples April 17 th – December 23 rd , 1798 The Queen of Naples Emma Hamilton’s ‘Attitudes’ Caserta June–August 1798 Church Versus State The Battle of the Nile August 1 st , 1798 Part 3 Sicily December 1798 – March 1799 Flight to Sicily December 23 rd , 1798 – January 1799 Messina to Palermo Spring 1799 The House of Bells Part 4 Corfu March–Summer 1799 The Siege of Corfu October 1798 – March 1799 The Governor of Corfu Trieste – Padua June–July 1799 The End of the Serenissima Part 5 Venice September 1799 – June 1800 The Bourbons’ Revenge The Bridge of Tits The Orphans’ Choir The Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore Help from King George III The Venice Conclave November 30 th , 1799 – March 14 th , 1800 Part 6 Return to Frascati June 25 th , 1800 Lost Kingdoms Napoleon the Emperor The Coronation, December 2 nd , 1804 The Death of the Last Stuart King July 13 th , 1807 Post Script Main Sources References Author’s Note
About the Author
Writer and journalist Margaret Stenhouse lives in Italy, near the town of Frascati, where the memory of Henry Stuart as a loved and respected bishop is fondly preserved. Her passion for history led her to investigate the story of Henry IX, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s little-known younger brother and the last direct heir of the Stuart dynasty, by consulting local books and documents that have not been translated from Italian into English. Her account of Henry’s trials as he is forced to flee before Napoleon’s invasion of Italy is based on the scanty recorded facts of his movements during this period.
About the Book
In 1798, when Napoleon invades Rome, Cardinal Henry Stuart, the last direct heir of the royal House of Stuart, is forced to flee south to seek refuge in the Kingdom of Naples. This is only the beginning of an adventurous two-year journey that drives him on to Sicily, Corfu, Padua and Venice, bringing him into contact with many key figures of the period, like Horatio Nelson, Lord and Lady Hamilton, the volatile Queen of Naples, the spy master Spiridion Foresti, the Ottoman commander Bey Abdul-Kadir and the reluctant Pope Pius VII, elected after a stormy conclave and crowned with a papier-mâché tiara . Set against the background of the Napoleonic wars and one of the most turbulent periods of change in European history, the flight of Henry IX, the Jacobite’s last Stuart king, is a little known and extraordinary story.
Dedication
To Jean, with thanks for all your support
Copyright Information
Copyright © Margaret Stenhouse (2019)
The right of Margaret Stenhouse to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528918275 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528962247 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Preface
Henry Benedict Maria Clement Stuart, Duke of York and Cardinal Archbishop of Frascati, was the last direct heir to one of Europe’s oldest royal dynasties which stretched back to the 14 th century. After the death of his elder brother, Charles Edward, the legendary Bonnie Prince Charlie, who had tried unsuccessfully to regain the throne of his ancestors, the Cardinal, as the last Stuart heir, assumed the title of Henry IX, King of England, Scotland, Wales and France.
Henry was born in Rome, where the Stuarts had settled after the deposition of James II, Henry’s grandfather. At the time of the prince’s birth, hopes of a Stuart Restoration to the British throne, backed by both the Pope and the King of France, still ran high. The boys were brought up as royal princes, in anticipation of the day when the German House of Hanover would be ousted by the Stuart Jacobite supporters. However, after Charles’ defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1745, support from both France and the papacy dwindled and gradually fizzled out.
A couple of years after the Culloden debacle, Henry entered the Roman Catholic Church. This was a serious blow to the Stuart cause. By then, England was officially a Protestant country and Parliament was hostile to the idea of a Roman Catholic ruling family. Henry’s father, James III and VIII, accepted his son’s decision, but Charles was furious and resentful and the brothers were estranged for many years.
At the time, Henry was accused of opportunism, of opting out of involvement in what had become a lost cause, but there is no reason to believe that his vocation was not sincere. During his late teens, he gradually changed from a lad known for his charming ways and his love of music and dance, to become progressively withdrawn, serious and pious.
As Archbishop of his pleasant see of Frascati, in the hills above Rome, he enjoyed a peaceful and privileged life, respected by all and known for his many good works and acts of charity.
Henry’s life, however, was turned upside down in 1798 when Napoleon’s army invaded the Papal States and he was forced to abandon his home and flee south. It was the start of a journey fraught with dangers and unforeseen developments in a world full of uncertainties in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic conquests.
Henry was almost seventy-three when he was forced to leave his home and embark on a journey with an uncertain outcome. During two difficult and dangerous years, he faced a series of challenges with courage and fortitude. His journey is sketchily documented in the diaries kept by his secretary, Don Giovanni Landò. Landò, however, had stayed behind in Frascati and with much of continental Europe in a state of turmoil, communications were often interrupted. What little information Landò received of Henry Stuart’s movements during that time is the foundation on which this novel is based.
Map Tracing Henry Stuart’s Journey 1798–1800
Part 1

Frascati

February 9th, 1798
The household had been astir all night while the servants packed the travelling trunks and carried them downstairs to the carriages lined up in the palace forecourt. They had tried to be quiet, speaking with muffled voices and treading with soft feet, so that Cardinal Henry could enjoy a last night of peaceful sleep in his own bed.
Despite their efforts, he had not slept well. He had lain awake much of the night watching the stars dancing in the wind outside his windows. He hoped that the wind would forestall the threatened snowfall that would make their journey slow and difficult. It was cold in the palace, even though he had ordered that the fires be kept on in the rooms all night while his people busied with their preparations for his departure.
An hour before dawn, he finally stirred. At once his personal servant, the foundling Gigi-Moretto, who slept like a devoted guard dog on a pallet at the foot of his bed, was up and alert and at his side to help him rise. The Cardinal was approaching his seventy-third year and although he was still vigorous and hearty for his age, he was often stiff in the mornings. He needed Moretto to massage his calves and ankles to get the blood flowing freely through his limbs before he stood upright.
“Is everything ready?” he asked.
“Yes, sire,” answered Moretto, opening the door and beckoning in the barber and his assistant carrying a bowl of warm water, while two footmen appeared with lit candelabras that filled the shadowy corners with wavering flickers of light.
Henry sighed. His eyes moved around the room, memorising all the familiar details. His gaze lingered on the portrait of his brother Charles Edward, painted when he was young and dashing, his father’s darling and the toast of Europe. Next to it hung the painting of his saintly mother, the Polish princess, whom he barely remembered. She hung beside the portrait of his father, the melancholy King James, who had lived and died in exile without ever putting his foot in his kingdom.
Even now, with the clergy under threat and danger at his door, Henry was glad that he had chosen a different destiny. His father and his brother had died unhappy men. Carletto (as his father called him) had wasted his last years in bitter recrimination and self-hate, bloated with claret and cognac, while he, Henry, had lived in peace and harmony, concentrating on his pastoral duties and transforming his see into a model community, complete with schools, a highly considered seminary and a hospital endowed with horse and carriage standing by to convey the sick and injured to and from their homes and fields. These things were a source of constant satisfaction to him and he could happily ignore the slanders spread by English spies and the machinations of the fading and frustrated Jacobite movement.
His ablutions finished, he summoned his valet, Eugenio Ridolfi, who removed his dressing gown. With the skill of long service, he helped his master into his shirt and waistcoat, his black velvet breeches, scarlet silk stockings and his black frock coat, while Libero, his wig-maker, fussed around his head, sleeking back the hair at the nape of his neck and tying it loosely with