By Courtney Mares
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2025 / 15:07 pm
King Charles III is currently in Rome, but his state visit to the Vatican was cancelled due to Pope Francis’ health. This missed opportunity led to a surreal moment where he could have crossed paths with another “Charles III” buried in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” the Catholic Stuart claimant to the British throne is entombed in marble splendor within the basilica, just steps from the front door.
The marble monument in the Vatican, often overlooked, is marked by two sorrowful angels and a Latin inscription declaring the final resting place of “the last of the Royal House of Stuart.” James Francis Edward Stuart and his sons, Charles Edward Stuart (also known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”) and Henry Benedict Stuart are entombed here.
James II of England, a devout Catholic, was overthrown in 1688, leading to Protestant rule. His son, James Francis Edward Stuart, spent his life in exile in France and Italy, claiming a throne that remained elusive.
The Catholic Church provided refuge and support to the Stuarts during their exile. Pope Clement XI offered James III the Palazzo Muti in Rome as his residence, where he set up a Jacobite court and lived with his family.
The Royal Legacy of Maria Clementina Sobieska
Step into the fascinating world of royalty and intrigue with Maria Clementina Sobieska, a Polish princess whose life was filled with drama, devotion, and legacy. Born in 1702, Maria Clementina was the granddaughter of King John III Sobieski of Poland. She married James Francis Edward Stuart, the exiled King James III of England, and together they had two sons.
Their eldest son, the much-romanticized “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” led the disastrous Jacobite uprising of 1745 in Scotland, which ended in a rather unceremonious retreat. The younger brother, Henry Benedict Stuart, found his vocation in the Church, eventually becoming a cardinal.
Maria Clementina was known for being particularly devoted to prayer, asceticism, and charity in her last years. When she died at the age of 33, the pope had her interred in St. Peter’s Basilica in 1735 with full royal honors, including a procession from the Basilica of the Holy Twelve Apostles to the Vatican.
Maria Clementina’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica can be identified by her colorful oval portrait held up by marble sculptures of a cherub and a woman, an allegorical figure of charity, who holds up in her other hand a flaming heart.
After James III’s death and royal funeral in Rome in 1766, Pope Clement XIII refused to recognize his son as Charles III and instead recognized the Hanoverians as kings of Great Britain in an attempt to engage with the Protestants. The womanizing Charles had had a daughter out of wedlock with his Scottish mistress. He later married but separated without having any more children. The Stuart line died with his brother Henry, the cardinal duke of York, in 1807.
Recognizing their royal lineage, Pope Pius VII commissioned the renowned sculptor Antonio Canova to craft a monument in their honor erected in 1819. The legacy of Maria Clementina Sobieska and the Stuart family lives on in history and art, a testament to their enduring impact on European royalty.
