The Private Passions of Bonnie Prince Charlie [Paperback]

Hugh Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 1998

Charles Edward Stuart lives on as a romantic hero of legend yet, behind that image, history shows him to be a charismatic self-seeker who loved only himself and his cause. Hugh Douglas shows that Bonnie Prince Charlie was also a man capable of passionate love. This is a re-examination of the Scottish hero whose flawed character and lack of success in matters of the heart influenced his relations with the royal courts of Europe and played an important part in his role in the history of Scotland and England - perhaps contributing as much to the defeat of the Jacobite cause as "Butcher" Cumberland's musket fire at Culloden. As well as the torrid affair with the young Duchesse de Montbazon in Paris and the tragic tale of Clementine Wilkinshaw, which resulted in a child, the author looks at the Prince's other relationships with women, from the formative one with his mother, to his disastrous late dynastic marriage to Louise de Stolberg, in which he was left a lonely, elderly cuckold, comforted by his daughter in his last years.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A full-dress revisiting of a romantic figure from Scottish history. Douglas, the author of 13 books, researched libraries in Scotland, England, France, and Italy to compose a richly detailed narrative of the extraordinary public and private lives of Charles Edward Stuart, son of James, pretender to the Scottish and English thrones. Charles grew up as a spoiled child in a loving but quarrelsome family, trained by his sad, moody father-in-exile. As Douglas puts it, the charismatic prince attracted numerous women but had problems returning their love. He became a hero by rousing hope among the men of the clans who opposed the Hanover king in London. Charles appears here as impetuous, mean-spirited, and ungrateful to his radical Jacobin supporters, w ho eventually abandoned him. He was accused of being badly educated, a haphazard leader with poor political awareness, and a failed diplomat with a quick temper, albeit a brave man. Advised to delay his rising until his forces strengthened, Charles ignore d the advice and landed in Scotland, recruiting many clans and leading them to early victories over the English. He was forced to retreat to Culloden Moor, where a powerful English force under ``Butcher Cumberland massacred the army. Charles was barely sp irited out of Scotland and into France by patriotic men and women. His later years are described here as involving a series of unions with high-born women whom he beat during drunken rages; he also sired ``Queen'' Charlotte, his only child to live. A stir ring story of a lost but heroic cause. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Hugh Douglas is the author of 13 books, including Robert Burns: The Tinder Heart (Sutton, 1996).

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing; Revised edition (October 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750919027
• ISBN-13: 978-0750919029
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,118,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Appalling, September 26, 2003

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This review is from: The Private Passions of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Paperback)

I only finished this book through my own interest in its subject. Its appalling writing - which could have come right out of a school essay by a not particularly good student - should be enough to discourage any reader, but to that there must be added a serious lack of real scholarship, and a complete carelessness and naiveté in jumping to conclusions (whether these be about factual, psychological or historical issues), which became more and more vexing as I plodded through the book.

As if this weren't enough, there are contradictions galore, even in regard to the author's own opinions. For example, Mr. Douglas asserts, on page 170, that "Charles Stuart in love might consider himself a prince, but he certainly was no gentleman". An unremarkable comment in itself, if it weren't for the fact that later on, on page 285, the author tells us that "as a lover, Prince Charlie could be a gentleman, but a gentleman with a sinister, dark side" (???).

There is at least one blatant error of grammatical interpretation, as when, on the first line of page 263, Mr. Douglas explains the word "anyways" as meaning "anyone's", which certainly cannot be the word's meaning on line 7 of the same page. My opinion is that the word means simply "in any way", but that's not the explanation given in the book (wouldn't it have been easier to leave it unexplained, rather than adding that embarrassing little clarification in brackets?).

All in all, a disappointment, and a complete waste of money. I only hope there are better books on Prince Charlie around!!!