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James Francis Edward Stuart (June 10, 1688 – January 1, 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II-VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena, (Maria Beatrice d’Este), the second (but eldest surviving) child of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena, and his wife, Laura Martinozzi.

King James II-VII and his wife Mary of Modena, were both devout Roman Catholics in a Protestant country where the sovereign was also the head of the Church of England.

Prince James was created Prince of Wales in July of 1688 and as first son of the reigning monarch he was automatically Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, among other titles.

The prince’s birth was controversial and unanticipated, coming five years after his mother’s last pregnancy and three years since his father’s reign started. His mother (then aged 29) had been considered past child-bearing age, and her ten previous pregnancies has resulted in five stillbirths and five children who died in infancy.

The birth reignited controversies of religion, as the new son would be raised Catholic. Wild rumours spread among British Anglicans: that the child had died stillborn, and that the baby feted as the new prince was an impostor smuggled into the royal birth chamber in a warming pan.

Protestants found it suspicious that everyone attending the birth was Catholic. Another rumour was that James II-VII had not been the father; he was said to be impotent after a bout with venereal disease years earlier. In an attempt to quash these rumours, James published the testimonies of over seventy witnesses to the birth.

Centuries later, genetic testing of James Francis Edward’s descendants confirmed he was indeed a Stuart.

The line of succession to the throne was thrust into doubt. James II-VII’s eldest legitimate daughters, Princess Mary and Princess Anne, had been raised as Protestants. British Protestants had expected Mary, from his father’s first marriage, to succeed their father.

This possibility had kept Protestants somewhat content, with his rule a temporary inconvenience. Now that Mary or Anne’s succession was in doubt with this new Catholic son and heir, discontent grew, already stoked by James II-VII’s actions which had alienated Tory Anglicans who had previously been inclined to honour him as sovereign even if they differed in religion.

This movement would become the Glorious Revolution; Mary’s husband Willem of Orange landed in England, backed by an army of English and Scottish exiles, as well as Dutch soldiers. Much of the English army promptly defected to William’s cause, causing James II-VII and his family to flee rather than stay and fight.

James II-VII’s Protestant elder daughter (the prince’s half-sister) Mary II and her husband (the prince’s cousin) William III became joint monarchs of England, Scotland and Ireland. The Bill of Rights 1689 and Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Catholics such as James from the English and British thrones.

Prince James Francis Edward was raised in Continental Europe and known as the Chevalier de St. George. After his father’s death on September 16, 1701, he claimed the English, Scottish and Irish crowns as James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland, with the support of his Jacobite followers and King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, a first cousin of his father.

Spain, the Papal States, and Modena also recognised him as King of England, Ireland and Scotland and refused to recognise William III, Mary II, or Anne as legitimate sovereigns. As a result of his claiming his father’s lost thrones, James was attainted for treason in London on March 2, 1702, and his titles, such as Prince of Wales, were forfeited under English law.