The Love of a Prince

Many books have been written about Bonnie Prince Charlie, but fewhave brought to light as much new material as this one, includingevidence of a short-lived son, born in Paris scarcely two years afterthe royal fugitive escaped to France following the unlucky Battle ofCulloden.

The book deals less with the oft-told story of the Prince'scrushing defeat in '45 than with his subsequent inability to copewith failure and with the even more devastating personal defeatrepresented by his arrest in Paris and expulsion from France in 1748.During that critical time - a major turning point in his life - theonce generous and compassionate Prince, having failed in his nobleambition either to vanquish his enemies or perish sword in hand, beganhis long descent into oblivion.

One happy event, hitherto unnoted, nevertheless marked this crucialperiod. As the Prince in 1747-48 watched his world crumbling around him- his father and brother in Rome having abandoned him and given up hopeof a Stuart restoration -- he fell in love, for the first time in hislife, with his married cousin Louise, Princesse de Rohan, like himselfa direct descendant of Poland's King John Sobieski. The Love ofa Prince is her story too and an extensive appendix to the work isdevoted to the passionate love letters she wrote during theirclandestine affair. They convey the full tragedy of an archetypal femmeabandonnee whom we observe progressing from the initial joys of younglove to inevitable catastrophe. Ultimately, the princess'ssuffering and her moral defeat become little more than an unhappysubplot in the Prince's own saga of distrust, bad faith and angryfailure set amid the intrigues and petty jealousies of the Frenchcourt.

Nearly a decade of researach by the author in the Stuart Papers atWindsor Castle and in private and public archives has gone into thework. Though at times challenging for the general reader because of itsperiod French documentation (retained for the sake of authenticflavour), the work is by no means directed to the specialist alone.Indeed, at times The Love of a Prince reads more like anhistorical romance than history, despite the total absence of fictionalelements. It will appeal to those interested in eighteenth-centuryhistory and biography, followers of the royal families of Europe, andespecially those long-fascinated by the exploits of one ofhistory's legendary heroes.