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The Biggest Jerks In Royal History: 25 Royals Who Proved That Power Doesn’t Equal Decency

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An Alcoholic Woman Beater

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s daughter, Charlotte Stuart. Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Bonnie Prince Charlie was not just a woman beater, but also an alcoholic. His alcoholism got worse after his defeat at Culloden, transformed him into an even bigger jerk, and wrecked what was left of his prospects. It was right around that time that he seduced and took for his mistress a young and innocent girl, Marie Louise de la Tour d’Auvergne. He got her pregnant, then immediately broke her heart by callously ditching her for another mistress. He 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.

Charlie’s wife was not the only woman he beat up. Before her, there was his mistress Clementina Walkinshaw, who bore him a daughter, Charlotte, in 1753. He beat her up so often that she fled with her daughter in 1760. For years, Charles’ mistress and his daughter sheltered from him in convents, while he lived 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 for years, took care of her dying father. She never saw her children again, died at age thirty six, shortly after Charles.

Written by

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.

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