BONNIE Prince Charlie was the victim of a smear
campaign by 18th-century English propagandists who cast
him as an effeminate dandy to weaken the Stuart claim to
the throne, a book published today claims.
In contrast, the Young Pretender, who inspired the
Jacobite uprising of 1745, was a fearless 6ft-tall
battle-hardened soldier who spoke four languages,
including Gaelic, was a skilled boxer and crack shot, and
marched scores of miles each day alongside his men. The
enduring image of the Prince as a "gay Italian dwarf" and
"lisping Frenchified dandy" was the work of spies and
propagandists loyal to the Hanoverian Crown, according
to David Ross, an amateur historian whose book On the
Trail of Bonnie Prince Charlie is launched today at
Culloden, the site of the Young Pretender's final defeat by
government troops.
Mr Ross claims that the Prince's last years in Italy, where
he degenerated into a sad old drunk, helped to fuel the
misinformation put out by the English court. He argued
that Charles deserved to be placed alongside Robert the
Bruce and William Wallace. "The truth is that Bonnie
Prince Charlie was a genius, a very hard man and an
inspiration on the battlefield."
Mr Ross, who admits he is not an academic and writes
"popular" history books, said that Charles's image had
been deliberately tainted. "We must remember that the
family on the throne today are decendants of the people
who beat Charles at Culloden. Ever since the Jacobite
risings they have painted Charles as a foreigner and an
impostor."
Mr Ross has uncovered dozens of little-known facts,
including how while living in Avignon, in France, in 1747,
the Prince taught the local people how to box. He tells
how Charles was a fearless soldier who led his troops
from the front. His first taste of war was at the siege of
Gaeta, when he was just 13 years old.
"Far from being soft, he led from the front in battle. When
his groom was decapitated by a canonball at Culloden,
Charles calmly sat upon his horse and held his line."
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