CHARLES EDWARD STUART

But unfortunately (unless one has special permission in advance) it is not currently possible to get up close to the tomb of the Stuart kings in the left aisle of the crypt.  One can only look at it from some distance (from the front of the crypt or from the right aisle).  The appropriate place to leave a rose is the Canova monument in the basilica.

It is easy to see the actual tomb of Queen Clementina which is immediately behind the baroque monument.  One has to go up to the roof of the basilica, and then walk down the spiral staircase.  The tomb is just before one gets to the bottom.

For more details, see my website:
http://www.jacobite.ca/gazetteer/Vatican/index.htm

--
Noel S. McFerran

Thank you, thank you for this valuable information!! Now I will know what to do when I go there!! Thank you also for the link to your interesting website!

Charles-Edward's estranged wife, Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, is buried in the Santa Croce Church in Florence, Italy.  An elegant monument with the arms of Great Britain and Stolberg was raised to her memory, but it is nowhere near as elaborate as Charles-Edward's tomb.  

Charles-Edward's estranged wife, Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, is buried in the Santa Croce Church in Florence, Italy.  An elegant monument with the arms of Great Britain and Stolberg was raised to her memory, but it is nowhere near as elaborate as Charles-Edward's tomb.  

For more information about the tomb of Queen Louise, see my webpage:
http://www.jacobite.ca/gazetteer/Florence/SCroce.htm

Santa Croce is one of the most popular tourist sites in Florence.  In the summer one must line up to get in.  Most people don't make it over to the right transept.  Even those who do may be disappointed.  While the monument is magnificent, it is very difficult to see.

It is something of an oddity that Queen Louise is styled on the monument "Countess of Albany".  This title was a mere alias used by Louise.  There cannot be many tombs which similarly use an alias for their occupants.

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Noel S. McFerran

Thanks, mcferran!  

Perhaps her alias was used on the monument because the government didn't recognize her royal title, even in death, or because of disapproval over her lifestyle after she separated from Charles Edward.

really? what life did she lead after charles edward?

really? what life did she lead after charles edward?

In December 1780 Queen Louise left King Charles and fled to a convent.  The reason given for this move was that Charles had become a drunkard and had begun to beat his wife; this was almost certainly true.  But it is also true that for at least the two previous years Louise had been carrying on an adulterous relationship with the Italian poet Count Vittorio Alfieri.

In order to maintain her financial health (she was the recipient of a large pension from her brother-in-law the Cardinal Duke of York) Louise kept up the fiction for several years that there was no relationship with Alfieri; they maintained separate households usually in different towns, and only met in secret.  In 1786, however, they began openly to share the same home.  Charles died in 1788, but Louise and Alfieri never regularised their relationship by getting married.  They lived together until Alfieri's death in 1803.

After Alfieri's death Louise took as her companion the French painter Francois-Xavier Fabre.  Louise was 51 and Fabre 37.  It was Fabre who arranged for the monument to Louise's memory in Santa Croce in Florence.

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Noel S. McFerran

nice...  

In defence of Louise, Charles was already hitting the bottle by the time of the marriage, which was arranged by the French court in the hope of producing a Stuart heir. Charles was a bloated man of over fifty, Louise fresh out of the convent at twenty. Like Mary of Modena she had thought of taking orders before the marriage offer came up. I'm inclined to think he started hitting her before she started her affair (maybe that's just me being chivalrous).

I'd be interested to know why she was chosen to marry him.

Alfieri and Fabre were both very talented people. It sounds like Fabre wasn't really her lover - more a sort of "fan"!

Very interesting and very sad....

Very interesting and very sad....

I don't know. Louise got away from Charles and was able to live with the man she loved. After his death she found a true friend (and there aren't many of those around). I don't expect she was counting on being Queen of Great Britain.

Well, I think it was sad that Charles hit her, don't you?

Well, I think it was sad that Charles hit her, don't you?

Yes that's sad!

In defence of Louise, Charles was already hitting the bottle by the time of the marriage, which was arranged by the French court in the hope of producing a Stuart heir. Charles was a bloated man of over fifty, Louise fresh out of the convent at twenty. Like Mary of Modena she had thought of taking orders before the marriage offer came up. I'm inclined to think he started hitting her before she started her affair (maybe that's just me being chivalrous).

I'd be interested to know why she was chosen to marry him.

Alfieri and Fabre were both very talented people. It sounds like Fabre wasn't really her lover - more a sort of "fan"!

Louise had not in reality considered a religious vocation.  When she was seven she was sent to be educated at the convent of St. Wandru in Mons.  This was one of a number of religious institutions set up for unmarried noble ladies.  They took vows like other religious, but for many members it was more of an economic decision than religious.  When she was fourteen Louise received a prebend at the convent; this was an endowed position which ensured an income for life (or as long as she remained a member of the chapter).

Charles could not expect any reigning house to allow him to marry one of their princesses; the Hannovers were altogether too powerful by this point.  He had to settle for a bride from a non-royal, even if princely, house.

Louise was chosen as a spouse for Charles because her younger sister Caroline-Augusta was already the wife of the Earl of Tinmouth, only son of the 3rd Duke of Berwick (whose father was Charles' first-cousin).  The marriage was arranged by another of Charles' first-cousins, the Duc de Fitz-James.

There is no contemporary evidence to suggest that Charles started beating his wife early in the marriage.  On the contrary, there is plenty of evidence that the couple was very happy and that each tried to please the other.  Charles was not regularly drunk during the first years of the marriage.

In his memorial on the subject Charles brother the Cardinal Duke of York wrote, "It cannot be denied that the Count Alfieri has been the origin, the cause, the instigation, and the agent of the utterly deplorable and irreparable differences between the Royal Brother and his Consort."

--
Noel S. McFerran

Louise was selected as a bride for Charles Edward because she was poor enough to be tempted by the pension the French offered her if she would marry him.   Louise accepted the offer not only because she was poor, but because she did not get along with her mother, and was eager to get away from her.  

In 1798, Louise wrote:  "As for myself, I have experienced misfortune from my earliest years.  I was born the eldest of the children of my mother, who wanted a son and consequently received me ill and treated me with intense harshness all my youth up, placing me in a nunnery, where I learned nothing, in order to save herself expense and have more money for her own amusements; for my mother has never thought of aught else than to play, to enjoy life and to wear pretty dresses up to her present age of sixty-five."

Louise's father was a high-ranking officer in the Austrian army, and a favorite of Empress Maria Theresa.  He died at age twenty-four, leaving his wife with four very young daughters to raise and establish in the world. Maria Theresa found a post at court for Louise's mother and arranged convent educations for the girls.  Unfortunately, Maria Theresa did not give the girls dowries, and their marriage prospects looked slim.

I have to agree with Mcferran that their marriage was not unhappy during the first years, except for Charles Edward's drinking.  They weren't lovebirds per se, but the marriage seemed relatively successful. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out.  The age difference was too great, and after a few years, when it became clear that there would be no children, the marriage broke down.  Louise began an affair with Alfieri, who had made friends with Charles Edward in order to have access to Louise.  Charles Edward did not suspect that they were having an affair for quite some time; he started beating Louise when he found out.  Louise soon fled to her brother-in-law Henry in Rome.

Henry was estranged from Charles Edward; he protected her from her husband, and refused to hear a word against her.  Henry offered to arrange a place in a convent for Louise, who refused.  Henry financially supported Louise, who led a merry life in Rome, meeting Alfieri on the sly.  Henry eventually discovered what was going on, and Louise left Rome with Alfieri.

Louise and Alfieri spent some adventurous years together.  They spent some time in Paris before the Revolution broke out.  They also visited England, where Louise was presented to George III as the Princess of Stolberg.  George III and his family, well aware of who Louise was, regarded her with fascination but did not discuss anything controversial with her.  Louise infuriated the Jacobites during her visit by visiting Parliament during her trip, sitting in the visitor's gallery while George III prorogued it.  The day of her visit to Parliament was the anniversary of the birth of Charles Edward's father, James, and was traditionally known as "White Rose Day" by the Jacobites.  

Louise later said that the reason she visited England was sheer curiosity.  Some believe that her trip to England was motivated by her desire to get a pension from George III, although the Stuarts were giving her money, and she still had the French pension.  Louise and Alfieri returned to Paris after their trip to England was over, and nearly got caught up in the Revolution, escaping to Italy.

Louise's life with Alfieri was not entirely a dream come true.  Alfieri was not faithful to her, and he was extremely temperamental.  They also had money problems.  After the French revolution broke out, Louise's French pension came to an end, and her brother-in-law Henry was in dire financial straits himself, and could not come to her rescue.  Louise eventually received a pension from George III, but continued to agitate for the return of her French pension for the rest of her life.  Both Napoleon and Louis XVIII turned her requests for money down.

I suspect that the reason Louise did not marry Alfieri after Charles Edward's death was because she wanted to keep receiving her pensions, including the generous stipend she got from her brother-in-law Henry for as long as he was able to pay it.
 

Thanks for the fascinating informaton about Louise, Mcferran and Palatine!