In the original dust jacket. Purple cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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This is a biography I can get my teeth into. I can sit and just read it for hours on end, as I find the subject fascinating and the writing flows well. Charles Edward Stuart is the son of James the Old Pretender, who in turn is the son of James II. James was deposed because of his Catholic faith, and his daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange took the throne. When they died childless, Mary’s sister Anne took the throne. When she died childless, James, her brother and father of Charles Edward, should have been King as he was nearest in succession. But he was Catholic, so George of Hanover, very distant in the royal line, became George I, succeeded by George II. Needless to say, James and his son Charles, resident in Rome, were seriously upset, and both their lives were dominated by the knowledge that they should each in turn have been King of England. Not only did James make an effort to gain the English crown, but so did Charles Edward, their hopes ending in the battle of Culloden. Yet there was more to Charles Edward than that.

Frank McLynn has done an excellent job of bringing Charles Edward, his father James, his mother and brother, to life. His research has uncovered personalities behind the story, and the thinking and reasoning of disappointed hopes. Charles and James both feel keenly the injustice that has robbed them of the crown which they viewed as rightfully theirs by means of bloodline. I cannot help feeling sorry for both of them. Altogether an excellent biography and one I am finding so useful in my work as a historical fiction author.