13. Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Abuse of Women Extended to His Own Daughter
After he ditched Marie Louise de la Tour d’Auvergne, Bonnie Prince Charlie went out of his way to rub it in the poor girl’s face. At an opera, he showed up with his new mistress because he knew that Louise would be there. Distraught, she left in tears. She gave birth to a son, who died two years later. Charles’ wife was not the only woman he beat up. Before, there had been his mistress Clementina Walkinshaw, who bore him a daughter, Charlotte, in 1753. Charles beat her up so often that she fled with her daughter in 1760.
For years, the Bonnie prince’s mistress and daughter sheltered from him in convents, while he luxuriated in palaces and refused to support them. When Charlotte grew up, Charles refused to let her marry. So she took up a secret lover: the Archbishop of Bordeaux, whom she bore three illegitimate children. Despite his poor treatment of Charlotte, Charles expected her loyalty. When he suffered a stroke, he summoned her to Italy to take care of him. She had to leave her children behind in France, and spent years taking care of her father. She died at age thirty six, shortly after Charles, without ever seeing her children again.
