DEATH OF A STUART PRETENDER TO THE THRONE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3828, 5 April 1881, Page 1

DEATH OF A STUART PRETENDER TO THE THRONE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

For many years the inhabitants of Pimlioo and Belgrayia have observed a remarkable personage walking about the streets and attracting attention by the strangeness of his garb, as well as by hii unusual appearance in other respects. It is not every day that metropolitan youngsters have a ehanoe of seeing what used to be called a stylish-looking gentleman, of distinctly foreign aspect, perambulating the thoroughfares in a dark military cloak, and with a variety of orders, decorations ,and medals displayed in front. Irreverenae might suggest making fun of the eccentric individual, but there was something about the parti* cular personage in question which commanded a good deal' of' respect. '-, A tall, thin figure, a high and narrow forehead, a graceful and even majestic personal bear* ing, belonged to this much-decorated and glittering cavalier, who seemed to have ! stepped straight out of the pages of some romance or novel on to the London flags. !To those well versed in historical portraiture, it was easy to trace in that shapely nose, oval face and 4 peaked fore* head, the lineaments of a kingly line famous in English annals; for this was no other than Charles Edward Stuart, a direct decendant, as he claimed, of the Young and Old Pretenders of James 11., of Charles 1, and of that Robert; of Scotland who succeeded the royal line of Bruce more than 500 years ago. A truly romantic life, in its beginning, belonged to the relic of the unfortunate .Stuart dynasty. He was arrayed against us at Waterloo, and there bad the good or ill luck to receive the cross of the Legion of Honor, from the hands of the great Napoi leon for his marked bravery on-the field. He married a daughter of the aristocratic house of Beresford, a Mrs Colonel Osborne early in this century, but after her death was reduced to comparative porerty and the last years of his life were spent in rather straitened circumstances in his South Belgravian chambers This heir of the romantic past has just ended hit career in a very sudden manner, having died on board a French steamer coming from Biarritz to Bordeaux, on Christmai eve. His title was Count of Albany, borne, too, by his sire before him, and the way in which his descent is traced from the ancient reigning house is simple. if not completely trustworthy. The deceased nobleman himself always upheld—though it need hardly be said in a peaceful and unobtrusive manner—his own claim to the throne of Great Britain. His father, James Stuart, was a supposed son of the " young pretender " as he was called, or I'rince Charlie, the ill-fated hero of the rout of Culloden, was himself the direct grandson of Sing James 11., who actually sat upon the English throne until forced to flee on the arrival. of William of Orange in Tor Bay. So the poverty-stricken yet still proud and chivalrous lodger inPimlico. who has just died in his 82nd year, could boast but four generations of an ancestor who had wielded the sceptre and worn the crown of Great Britain. The uncertain link in the pedigree is with regard to his father James Stuart, Count of Alabany. Was he, indeed the son of the Young Pretender or not P Be it remembered he saw the light so lately as 1773, and the hapless Young Pretender by that time was 53 years old. The story goes that this princely boy—James Stuart—was born amid circumstances of great mystery, and. was at once smuggled off in the charge of Admiral Allen in order to protect him from supposed plots against his life on the part of the English Government. The child grew up to be a man, and was in due course iuformed of bis being the son of' tbe vanquished hero of r'ulloden, but presumably he- took • o active steps to assert his very do btful rights to the English throne, and settled down instead into a quiet resident abroad. His eldest son expired without issue, but the younger (he who has just died) half left several children, all grown up now, so that the I Stuart line cannot be sad to be extinct, supposing it to be granted that the deceased gentleman was a veritable scion'of that family.—London Telegraph.