Looking Backward Sept. 21 nny360.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nny360.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jacobite letters go on display for first time at Blair Castle
The stunning piece of Scottish history, which dates back to the early 18th century, was previously stored in the archive
Keren Guthrie, archivist, with the ‘idiot’ letter from Bonnie Prince Charlie
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Bonnie Prince Charlie letter branding military strategist an idiot is discovered IT is a letter in which Bonnie Prince Charlie calls out his military strategist for his advice which could have changed the future of the Stuart dynasty. As the historic Blair Castle reopens its doors today a stunning piece of Scottish history will go on show for the very first time. To mark the reopening of the Perthshire castle for the first time this year, visitors will be able to absorb themselves in Blair Castle’s Jacobite Exhibition: A Family at Divided.
Read more: Amidst all the conflicts of the Jacobite Rebellions, Bonnie Prince Charlie calls his loyal supporter and an acknowledged military strategist Lord George Murray, brother to the Duke of Atholl, an “idiot” for his advice – advice that could have changed the fortunes of the Stuart line.
By Hamish MacPherson
BACK IN THE DAY
1746, Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Young Pretender) (1720 - 1788) being sheltered, after his defeat at Culloden, by highlanders who are on their knees before him. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). THERE were 269 years and five months between the two greatest chances to break the Union. Had Prince Charles Edward Stuart and the Jacobites won the Battle of Culloden, then he might have listened to those many advisers who had urged him to stay in Edinburgh the previous year and proclaim the end of the Union. The Duke of Cumberland (below) and the Hanoverian government army won the day, however, and the Union survived, strengthened by the many Scots who sided with the government and set the scene for the establishment and growth of the British Empire, in which many Scots played a huge part. The next opportunity to end the Union was on September 18, 2014.
IN this week 275 years ago, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, had his army carry out his orders that no quarter be given to the survivors of the Battle of Culloden. Cumberland had used the excuse that Prince Charles Edward Stuart had given a “no quarter” order to his army. According to Lord Balmerino, who was executed for his leading part in the Rising, no such order was ever given. A written version supposedly made by Jacobite commander Lord George Murray was a doctored forgery, no doubt to deflect criticism, and no matter his “excuse” there is no doubt that Cumberland ordered that wounded Jacobites on the field at Drumossie Moor were to be killed and their bodies left to rot.