British Royalty. Born Charles Edward Louis John Philip Casimir Sylvester Maria Stuart at Palazzo Muti, Rome, Italy, the eldest son of son of James Francis Stuart, 1st and last Duke of Cornwall and Marie Sobieski; and the grandson of the deposed British monarch, James II. Given a classical education, and exposed to military life early, he became the embodiment of the Jacobite cause, which was dedicated to placing the descendants of James II's second marriage on the British throne. In pursuit of the throne, Charles seized an opportunity at a time when the incumbent British monarch was in Hanover, and the bulk of the British Army was fighting in Flanders and Germany, and he led an expeditionary force to Scotland, landing at Eriskay in July 1745 and proclaimed his father king. Encouraged by a promise of support from France, by September he had rallied thousands of Highlanders to his cause, and they had taken the city of Edinburgh. The Jacobite forces marched south, but failed to collect the hoped for support. Having reached Derby, they chose to withdraw when they found little domestic support and no foreign aid. After a victory at Clifton, the Jacobite cause was utterly destroyed in April 1746 at the Battle of Culloden. Charles was hunted as a fugitive for more than five months before he was spirited away into hiding on Skye, and then he escaped to France. Two years later he was expelled from France, and for several years he wandered Europe. In 1766, after his father's death, he returned to Italy. At the request of the French court, he married Louise zu Stolberg-Gerden in April 1772, she left him in 1780. His only child was an illegitimate daughter, whom he designated his heir. A bitter and disappointed alcoholic, his health spiraled until at the age of sixty-seven, he suffered a stroke which left one side of his body paralyzed. He died after a month later and was interred at Saint Peter's Basilica. He has also been called The Young Pretender and Bonnie Prince Charlie.