Prince James

1688-1766

Prince James was the claimant to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland in both Jacobite Uprisings.

Prince James was born on the 10th of June 1688, in St. James’s Palace, London, England. His birth name was James Francis Edward Stuart, although in later days he came to be known as Prince James, the Prince of Wales, the Old Pretender, or the Old Chevalier.

Prince James was born to the reigning monarch of England and Scotland, James II of England (also called James VII of Scotland). Automatically, this made Prince James the heir to the thrones of England and Scotland, along with becoming Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay through his mother. He was raised in France under the protection of King Louis XIV of France, who recognised him as the rightful heir.

While Prince James was in France, and even before he was born, a political movement began which sought to place Princes Mary and William of Orange on the throne. When James II died in 1701, Prince James declared himself the King, he had the support of France, Spain, the Papel State and Modena, who also refused to acknowledge any validity to the claim of Princes Mary. As a result, the British government declared that the actions of Prince James were treasonous and any claim that held to the throne would be stripped from him.
Prince James attempted multiple times to take the throne of Britain by force, but each time was met with failure. The last of these was the 1715 Jacobite Uprising. At a later stage his son Prince Charles attempted to usurp the British crown and place his father on the throne, which was also met with failure.

Effectively, Prince James lived the rest of his life in Rome, where he was granted a pension and enjoyed relative comfort. He died on the 1st of January 1766.