Writer and journalist Margaret Stenhouse lives in Italy, near the town of Frascati, where the memory of Henry Stuart as a loved and respected bishop is fondly preserved. Her passion for history led her to investigate the story of Henry IX, Bonnie Prince Charlie’s little-known younger brother and the last direct heir of the Stuart dynasty, by consulting local books and documents that have not been translated from Italian into English. Her account of Henry’s trials as he is forced to flee before Napoleon’s invasion of Italy is based on the scanty recorded facts of his movements during this period.
In 1798, when Napoleon invades Rome, Cardinal Henry Stuart, the last direct heir of the royal House of Stuart, is forced to flee south to seek refuge in the Kingdom of Naples. This is only the beginning of an adventurous two-year journey that drives him on to Sicily, Corfu, Padua and Venice, bringin...