Stuart or Stewart, Prince James Francis Edward, known as the Old Pretender 1688-1766
Claimant to the throne of Great Britain

The only son of James VII and II and his second wife, Mary of Modena, he was born at St James's Palace, London. Six months later, he was taken by his fugitive mother to St Germain, where, on his father's death (1701), he was proclaimed his successor as James III. His attempt to land in Scotland (1708) failed and he returned to France to serve with the French in the Low Countries, distinguishing himself at Malplaquet (1709). He refused to renounce his Catholicism in order to be declared heir to Queen Anne. During John Erskine, Earl of Mar's Jacobite rebellion, he landed at Peterhead (1715), but left six weeks later. Unable to return to France, he spent most of the rest of his life in Rome. In 1719 he had married Princess Clementina Sobieski (1702-35), who bore him two sons before retiring to a nunnery (1724).