Current Literature
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF H.R.H. CHARLOTTE STUART, DUCHESS OF ALBANY By Francis John Angus Skeet After only a minute's reflection, readers will identify " Charles III, King of Great Britain, Scotland, France and Ireland " : the Young Chevalier to some ; the Young l're- tender to others ; and to Major Skeet, on the title-page of his Charlotte Stuart (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 16s.) King. It seems fairly certain that Charlotte was Charles's only child. She was the daughter of his Scottish mistress, Clementina VValkin. slam, and was born at Liege inOctober, 1753. He legitimized her, many years later, by a magnificent Act of which nobody took any notice, and created her Duchess of Albany. She had a wretched life. Her parents separated before she was eight years old, and she spent her childhood with Clementina, whose one idea was to be recognized " by the royal lover whom she had left in disgust. Major Skeet prints letters of Charlotte to her father, obviously directed by her mother, in which she begs him to deign to cast his eyes upon that dear and beloved one. " Hear her last sigh breathe your name, see her expire in her daughter's arms, see her perish from the same blow with which you would strike your innocent victim . . . " Not until 1783 did he cast his eyes even upon Char- lotte ; then it suddenly pleased him to send for her and allow her to nurse him until his death in 1788. In 1789 she herself died, of cancer. Major Skeet follows every detail of her life with the utmost absorption. It interests him so much that he often repeats himself, disclosing on p. 142, for example, a fact which had ended p. 141 and been first told to us on p. 2 of the introduction : From the allusions in the last chapter to the Duchess being herself in failing health at the time of her father's last illness, it is evident that Charlotte had fallen into a precarious state of health." His book is manifestly a labour of love, and he brings to life as well as may be the sad and colourless last of the Stuarts whom Burns called " the bonny lass of Albany."
Previous page
