About this artwork

After his defeat at the battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, Prince Charles Edward Stuart took refuge in the islands of the Outer Hebrides, and spent the summer dodging the Hanoverian troops sent to search for him. £30,000 - a massive sum - was offered for his capture. On 28 June, the Prince, disguised as Flora Macdonald's Irish maid, Betty Burke, was successfully smuggled from Benbecula to Skye. Despite his renowned pretty looks, the Prince was unconvincing as a woman, and joked that if the soldiers searched him, they would find more than pistols about his body.

Updated before 2020

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