Prince Charles Edward Stuart in Edinburgh, 1745

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

43640

Title

Prince Charles Edward Stuart in Edinburgh, 1745

Description

An imaginary scene of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) holding court at Holyrood Palace during his occupation of Edinburgh in 1745. He is seated at a large dining table during a feast dressed in a fine light blue suit and powdered wig. Around him is a crowd of courtiers, also dressed in fine clothes, raising their wine glasses to toast him. The man at the front of the scene with his back turned to the viewer is wearing a tartan plaid.

Artist / maker

Hole, William Brassey

Date

1880

Size

127.5 x 160.0 cm

Type

Oil painting

Location

City Art Centre

Accession number

CAC1978/112

This painting is an imaginary scene influenced largely by the work of Walter Scott and the aura of romanticism and glamour which surrounded the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie long after his defeat at Culloden. While the elite classes of Edinburgh may have been received at the Palace of Holyrood, the Prince's short stay in the city was in reality nothing short of a military occupation. Only the Castle withstood the rebels and continued bombardment from the Castle on to the city caused a degree of damage on the Old Town.

The Jacobites took Edinburgh without a shot over the night of 17th September 1745. They had swept through Scotland largely unopposed following the start of the rebellion on the West Coast. Surrounding the city, they found all the entry points to the Old Town guarded, with the great Netherbow Port, the city's main gate on to the High Street manned by the Town Guard. But when a few Jacobites slipped through, they quickly disarmed the guard and opened the gates. The Caledonian Mercury newspaper reported "Affairs in this city [...] have taken the most surprising turn since yesterday without the least bloodshed or opposition; so that now we have in our streets Highlanders and bagpipes, in place of dragoons and drums".

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People > Politics and government > Princes

Places > Edinburgh Landmarks > Holyrood Palace