Jacobitism Part IV: Louisa Maria Teresa, Princess over the water

The young princess with his brother James III in an allegorical painting

It is beautiful to dedicate a full entry to such a wonderful and beautiful princess, our well beloved Louisa Maria Teresa Stuart, for the jacobites, known as the princess over the water and also as the Princess Royal. Louisa Maria Teresa is well remembered and glorified by jacobites, as she was the only legitimate daughter (To survive infancy) of any Stuart jacobite pretender.

Louisa Maria Teresa was born on 28 June 1692 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, well after his father have been deposed as monarch of the British Islands in 1688. She was not the first baby girl to be born to James II and his second wife Mary of Modena, other three girls have been born earlier but died very young, Catherine Laura, Isabel and Charlotte Maria.

Louisa Maria Theresa had two surviving elder half-sisters from his father's first marriage with Anne Hyde, this were Mary and Anne both of whom became queens after his father was deposed, being raised as protestants, Louisa Maria Teresa would never meet them, Mary II in fact died in 1694 when Louisa was barely two years old.

At the time of her birth, James II invited many people to attend the birth (To prevent the controversy that happened some years before at James III's birth in which no relevant courtesans were present, and rumours started accusing James II of having the baby substituted, this of course was false), even Mary II was invited, however she did not attend.


Louisa Maria Teresa during her childhood

Louisa's whole life happened at the France of Louis XIV, living at the court and being treated oficially as an english princess in all of her right, her tutor was a Roman Catholic english priest, the father Constable, who taught her the royal latin, royal history and of course catholic religion, the princess was very intelligent and recognized as one of the most beautiful of her times.

Soon the princess over the water became a companion and a true friend to her devastated mother Mary of Modena, when in 1701 his father died, his brother became for jacobites and the catholic monarchs, as James III of England, now Maria Louisa was sister to a monarch and as such was recognized as one of the highest ranking princesses at the Royal Court of France.


The beautiful princess

She was very popular at the court, and several candidates were presdenter for her to marry, the most likely were Charles, Duke of Berry (Grandson of Louis XIV in the male line) and the king Charles XII of Sweden, however none of this became real, to the first most likely because of Louisa Maria Teresa's uncomfortable position, and the second because Charles XII was protestant.

Unfortunately the princess didn't live long enough to marry and have children of her own, in april 1712 both she and her brother fell ill with smallpox, she died, her brother survived. It was a huge shock for her mother Mary of Modena, who was devastated with the loss of her only daughter.

The premature death of our dearest princess was a huge loss for the jacobite cause, she could have well created her own line of descendants that would eventually succeeded to the jacobite claim after the death of his grand-nephew Henry IX, Cardinal-Duke of York.

In the next entry I would talk about, the very famous Bonnie Prince Charlie, the next in the Jacobite succession, who claimed the british thrones as Charles III, for her opponents he was known as the Young Pretender, after his father who was known as the Old Pretender.