by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2016
by Anton Raphael Mengs, circa 1750
Henry Benedict Stuart was born at the Palazzo Muti in Rome, Italy on March 6, 1725. He was baptized on the day of his birth by his godfather Pope Benedict XIII and given a long string of names: Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier. Henry was the younger of the two sons of James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender, who was the son of the exiled King James II of England/VII of Scotland. Charles’ mother was Maria Clementina Sobieska, the granddaughter of King Jan III Sobieski of Poland. After his grandfather James II lost his throne, the Jacobite (from Jacobus, the Latin for James) movement formed. The goal of the Jacobites was to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England/VII of Scotland and his heirs to the thrones of England and Scotland. Henry was styled Duke of York, the traditional title of the British sovereign’s second son, from birth.
After the failure of the 1715 Jacobite Rising, Henry’s father, James Francis Edward, (henceforth called James) lived in Avignon, then a Papal territory, now in France. In 1717, Pope Clement XI offered James the Palazzo Muti in Rome as his residence. James then organized a Jacobite court in Rome. Further efforts to restore the Stuarts to the British throne in 1719 and 1722 were unsuccessful. On September 3, 1719, James Francis Edward Stuart married Maria Clementina Sobieska. Their two sons grew up in Italy where they were educated by Scottish tutors.
Henry had one elder brother:
- Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie, The Young Pretender) (1720 – 1788), married Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, no issue
Henry Benedict Stuart by Antonio David, circa 1729-1732; Credit – Wikipedia
Five years younger than his brother, Henry was more affected by his parents’ turbulent marriage. When he was eight months old, his mother Maria Clementina Sobieska retired to the convent of Santa Cecilia in Rome because she disagreed with her husband about their sons’ upbringing and was convinced that her husband had an affair. Maria returned two years later and put Henry in the care of a governess, Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale. Thereafter, Maria lived separately from her husband, devoted herself to a life of piety and good deeds, and spent much of her time praying, fasting, and participating in Catholic ascetic rituals. In 1735, she died at the age of 32 when Henry was ten years old.
His mother’s piety and religious fervor affected Henry. In 1742, his tutor James Murray, Earl of Dunbar noted that Henry spent much of his time in prayer and sometimes attended up to four masses a day. He further noted that Henry was in a constant state of agitation, watching the clock so he would not miss any religious rituals. After the final, disastrous Jacobite Rising of 1745, Henry felt free from any military and political obligations and decided he wanted to pursue a religious life. His father, who always tried to downplay the Roman Catholicism of his family, was much displeased and said his son’s decision was “like a dagger in my heart.” Many Jacobites bitterly criticized Henry for having chosen a church career instead of marrying and begetting Stuart heirs.
On June 30, 1747, Henry received the tonsure, the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp, as a sign of religious devotion, from his godfather Pope Benedict XIII. He was then created Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Portico in a special consistory held on July 3, 1747. Henry was a Cardinal for fifty-six years and is the longest-serving Cardinal in Roman Catholic Church history. However, in modern times it is virtually impossible to become a Cardinal at the age of 22 as Henry did. He was addressed as “Your Royal Highness and Eminence” and was known as Cardinal Duke of York.
On September 1, 1748, Henry was ordained a priest and then made a Cardinal-Priest. He was created Cardinal-Bishop of the Diocese of Frascati near Rome on July 13, 1761. Henry became Dean of the College of Cardinals, who is often, but not necessarily, the longest-serving member of the whole College of Cardinals on September 26, 1803.
Henry Benedict Maria Clement Stuart, Cardinal York by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, pastel, circa 1786 NPG 378 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Upon the death of his elder brother Charles Edward Stuart in 1788, Henry assumed the style “King Henry IX”, but no government considered him the legal King. After the French Revolution, Henry lost the funds that the French Royal Family had been paying his exiled family and any French property he owned, causing him financial problems. In 1800, King George III granted Henry a pension of £4,000 per year. For many years the British government had promised to return the dowry of his grandmother, Maria Beatrice of Modena, but never did so. Henry considered the £4,000 per year an installment on money legally owed to him.
Henry Benedict Stuart died at the Episcopal Palace at Frascati on July 13, 1807, at the age of 82. With Henry’s death, the male line of the Royal House of Stuart was extinct. The Jacobite line of succession passed to King Carlo Emanuele IV of Sardinia through the line of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, the youngest child of King Charles I of England. The Jacobite line of succession has proceeded over the years to the House of Savoy, the House of Austria-Este, and the House of Wittelsbach. It appears in the future, that it will proceed to the House of Liechtenstein.
Henry was buried in the crypt at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican where his father had been buried and where his brother Charles Edward was also buried. Besides the tombs in the crypt, in the left aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica is a monument to the Royal Stuarts, commemorating the last three members of the Royal House of Stuart: James Francis Edward Stuart, his elder son Charles Edward Stuart, and his younger son, Henry Benedict Stuart.
Tomb of James Francis Stuart and his two sons Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict Stuart; Credit – Wikipedia
Monument to the Royal Stuarts in St. Peter’s Basilica; Credit – Wikipedia
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Works Cited
Abrufstatistik. “Henry Benedict Stuart.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Stuart, Henry Benedict, and Catholic-H. “Henry Benedict Stuart.” Wikipedia. N.p.: Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Sept. 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Susan. “Charles Edward Stuart.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 18 Nov. 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Susan. “James Francis Edward Stuart.” British Royals. Unofficial Royalty, 13 Nov. 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.