Museum to bring Bonnie Prince Charlie and his exiled family back to Highlands
A Highland museum is working to bring the exiled House of Stuart to Scotland for a landmark exhibition.
The West Highland Museum in Fort William has launched a campaign to secure the loan of a prestigious series of portraits of key members of the Stuart line to mark its 100th anniversary celebrations.
Among the paintings is a recently discovered portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart when he was 16. Also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, it is the only known portrait of the Jacobite leader that predates his 1745 rising and the slaughter at Culloden, the last battle fought in the campaign to return his family to the British throne.
His father, James Francis Edward Stuart, son of deposed James VII, also features in the portrait series. He set sail from Scotland following the failed 1715 rising, never to return.
James’ wife, Princess Clementina Sobieska – the mother of Charles – also features in the 13 royal portraits which the museum is working to secure on loan from Pininski Foundation in Liechtenstein. It is run by Peter Pininski, an art historian and distant descendant of Charles Edward Stuart on his mother’s side.
The museum said the series of 13 portraits which span four generations illustrated the family which inspired Jacobites to risk so much to pursue this “affair of the heart”. Now, £25,000 needs to be raised to transport the collection for display next year.
Chris Robinson, museum director, said: “We need help in raising funds to make this happen and bring Bonnie Prince Charlie and the exiled Stuarts back to Scotland. It will likely be the last time these iconic portraits will be displayed in the UK as they may soon be on permanent display at a European museum.”
The series also features a portrait of Charlotte the Duchess of Albany – Bonnie Prince Charlie’s daughter – and Princess Marie Victorie de Rohan, his granddaughter.
Broadcaster and historian Paul Murton has produced a short film in support of the campaign.
The paintings have never before been displayed together in the UK; some have never before been exhibited here.
A portrait of an elderly Prince Charles Edward Stuart by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, which was painted in Rome in 1786, was last displayed in Scotland in Glasgow in 1910. The portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie at 16 went on show at the National Museum of Scotland in 2019.
Vanessa Martin, curator at West Highland Museum, said: “The museum is world famous for its Jacobite exhibitions and has built up an important collection since the museum’s inception in 1922.
“The Jacobite Rising started here in Lochaber with Prince Charles Edward Stuart raising his father’s standard at Glenfinnan on August 19.
“For our centenary we have been offered this wonderful opportunity by the Pininski Foundation to present a public exhibition of rarely displayed royal portraiture.”
It is hoped the exhibition will draw Jacobite enthusiasts from around the world to Fort William.