On 20 September 1746, Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie) left Scotland for good to find refuge in Europe after his failed attempt to restore the Stewarts to the throne of Scotland and England.

Defeat at the Battle of Culloden 16 April 1746 forced the Prince and his followers to flee for their lives. The pursuit of Charles and anyone who had supported his cause was relentless and brutal. We have articles about the aftermath and how Orkney, where there were many Jacobite supporters, was violently suppressed.

Janet Fea and the Burning of Sound

The flight of the Prince took him to the West and the islands which, despite the danger to themselves, gave him refuge. There is a Bonnie Prince Charlie trail where you go follow his journey through the Outer Hebrides.

On 6 September 1746 2 French  ships anchored in Lochboisdale, in South Uist, Outer Hebrides. Two hundred troops came ashore and marched to Kilbride House.

“The French warships were L’Heureux and Le Prince de Conti. They formed the sixth and final rescue attempt for Prince Charles. A detachment of marines marched to the Laird of Boisdale’s house at Kilbride but by then Alasdair MacDonald of Boisdale had been taken prisoner and was on his way to the Tower Of London.  At this point Neil MacEachen appears again and offers to act as pilot to lead them over to the mainland where they anchored in Loch nan Uamh. They waited there for about two weeks till the Prince arrived.  They sailed back to France on 20th” – from Neil MacEachain’s Narrative of the Wanderings of Prince Charles in the Hebrides, via Visit the Outer Hebrides.

The Prince’s Cairn marks the traditional spot on the shores of Loch nan Uamh in Lochaber from which Charles made his final departure from Scotland. He landed back in France on 10 October [O.S. 29 September] 1746. On his return, he was initially received warmly by King Louis XV, but as far as obtaining additional military or political assistance was concerned, his efforts proved fruitless. His life was now in exile in Europe.

Prince Charles was only 26 when he fled Scotland and his campaign to place the Stewarts on the throne ended.

You can read more about his flight in the Hebrides here : Bonnie Prince Charlie’s visit to the Islands, from the Kinloch Historical Society.

You can read about the Orkney connection to the Jacobites and many other stories in Rebel Orkney, by Fiona Grahame, with artwork by Martin Laird, available from all good bookstores.

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