Charles Edward Stuart, Count Roehenstart
Encyclopedia
Charles Edward Augustus Maximilian Stuart, Baron Korff, Count Roehenstart (ca. May 1784 – 28 October 1854) was the natural
son of Prince Ferdinand of Rohan
(1738-1813), Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Cambrai, by Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany, herself the natural but legitimated daughter of Charles Edward Stuart
, the Young Pretender. Roehenstart was later a passive Jacobite
claimant
to the British throne
.
The name of "Roehenstart" given to him in infancy combined the names of both of his parents, Rohan and Stuart, while failing to proclaim their identity, which at the time would have been a cause for scandal.
Although he retired from military service as a lieutenant colonel
, he is sometimes called "General" Charles Edward Stuart, and this title appears on his gravestone at Dunkeld
.
Roehenstart was baptized
into the Roman Catholic faith on 13 May 1784 at the parish church
of Saint-Merry
in the rue de Saint Martin, Paris
, when he was described as a son of Maximilian Roehenstart and of Clementine Ruthven. He was named Charles Edward after his royal grandfather. The letters of Roehenstart's mother to her own mother, Clementina Walkinshaw
, provide evidence that this was one of her children, two daughters and one son, all fathered by Ferdinand de Rohan. The daughters were Marie Victoire Adélaïde ("Aglae"), who was baptized at the Château de Couzières on 19 June 1779, and Charlotte Maximilienne Amélie, born during the summer of 1780. The pregnancy with Roehenstart delayed Charlotte's plans to join her father in Florence
, he having been kept in ignorance of all three children.
On 23 March 1783, the ailing Prince Charles Edward had legitimated Charlotte, created her Duchess of Albany in the Jacobite Peerage
, and made her his heir. She travelled to join him soon after the birth of Roehenstart, leaving her children behind in the care of her own mother, herself taking on the responsibility for nursing her father until his death on 31 January 1788. Less than two years later, on 17 November 1789, Charlotte herself died of cancer in Bologna
. In her Will, Charlotte did not mention her children but left money to her mother Clementina "to allow her the power of disposing at her death of fifty thousand francs in favour of any of her necessitous relations". Cardinal Henry Stuart
, who was her uncle and executor as well as being the new Jacobite
pretender
, delayed releasing the money for two years.
Roehenstart's grandmother Clementina Walkinshaw lived until 1802, in her later years taking up residence in Switzerland
, and Roehenstart was raised in the reformed faith
. During the years of the French Revolution
, his father paid for his education in Germany
. A substantial fortune came to Roehenstart from his grandmother, much of which on the recommendation of Thomas Coutts
was invested in London with Turnbull, Forbes & Co., but the firm went bankrupt
in 1803. Most of the remainder of his fortune, one hundred thousand roubles, was invested with a Russian banker named Sofniev.
In later life, Roehenstart stated that in 1800 he had been commissioned as an artillery officer of the Imperial Russian Army
and had been promoted by 1803. On 8 August 1804, in Paris, he signed his name as a witness at the marriage of his sister Charlotte de Roehenstart to Jean-Louis de la Morliere. By 1806, he was no longer in the army, having resigned his commission as a lieutenant colonel
, and had taken service in the household of Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg, who was Tsar Alexander I
's Governor of White Ruthenia
. In Saint Petersburg
, Roehenstart was presented to the Tsarina, who was impressed by him. In 1811, he was offered the hand of an heiress, Marianna Hurko, but made the mistake of falling in love with her sister, Evelina, who was promised elsewhere. Unhappily, at about the same time Roehenstart's banker Sofniev failed, and Roehenstart was advised that he would recover only about five thousand roubles from the disaster. To the distress and anger of the Wurttembergs, he fled Russia, sailing from Kronstadt
and arriving in London
by November 1811. From there, he set sail for North America, in pursuit of John Forbes, a partner in Turnbull, Forbes & Co. who after the firm's failure had absconded to the United States
with money Roehenstart believed to be rightfully his. He lived in Philadelphia from 1811 to 1813. He remained in America until 1814.
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In 1816, after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars
, Roehenstart went to Scotland
and again to England
, unsuccessfully renewing the Stuarts' pursuit of their old claim on the dowry
of Queen Mary Beatrice of Modena
, his great-great-grandmother.
In about 1820, Roehenstart married Maria Antonietta Sofia Barberini, the daughter of an exile said to be an Italian
nobleman
. She died the next year and on 20 July 1821 was buried under the name of "Countess Roehenstart" at Marylebone
, London, her age at death being stated as thirty. On 13 December 1826, at St Pancras
, London, he married secondly Louisa Constance Bouchier Smith, an Englishwoman possessing a modest fortune, the daughter of Joseph Bouchier Smith, sometime lord of the manor
of Kidlington
in Oxfordshire
, who had recently died. Louisa Constance lived until 20 October 1853, dying at Paris, but there were no children of either marriage.
Following his second marriage, Roehenstart returned to continental Europe and spent much of the next twenty-five years travelling, usually without his wife, but they were settled permanently in his native Paris. In later life, Roehenstart spoke openly of his royal descent, but he became so boastful of his origins and adventures that few believed him. In 1853, he lost his wife, and in 1854 he revisited Scotland. While there he was fatally injured in a road accident, when he was travelling in a carriage which overturned. He was buried in the graveyard of Dunkeld Cathedral
. His friends provided a modest headstone, with the inscription "Sacred to the memory of General Charles Edward Stuart Count Roehenstart who died at Dunkeld on the 28th October 1854 Sic transit gloria mundi
".
In the twentieth century Roehenstart's papers came into the hands of the American scholar George Sherburn, who produced a comprehensive account of him from them.
, Roehenstart maintained consistently that his grandfather Prince Charles Edward had married his grandmother, Clementina Walkinshaw, and also that his mother the Duchess of Albany had married a Swedish nobleman
named Maximilian Roehenstart. The first is unlikely, although not an impossibility, but it lacks evidence; nothing has come to light to support the second claim, and there is no Swedish noble family named Roehenstart. On the contrary, Charlotte's relationship with Rohan is well evidenced.
Although he laid claim to the Jacobite succession
, Roehenstart made no practical attempt to regain the throne of his Stuart ancestors
. He did seek to maintain links with leading Scots and at the time of his death was returning from a visit to the Duke of Atholl
at Blair Castle
in Perthshire
.
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
son of Prince Ferdinand of Rohan
Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec de Rohan
Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec de Rohan was an Archbishop of Bordeaux starting in 1769, and Prince-Archbishop of Cambrai from 1781. He was the son of Hercule Meriadec de Rohan, prince de Guéméné and Louise-Gabrielle Julie de Rohan; brother of cardinal de Rohan, and Jules, prince de Guéméné.Mériadec...
(1738-1813), Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Archbishop of Cambrai, by Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany, herself the natural but legitimated daughter of Charles Edward Stuart
Charles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
, the Young Pretender. Roehenstart was later a passive Jacobite
Jacobite succession
The Jacobite succession is the line through which the crown in pretence of England and Scotland has descended since the flight of James II & VII from London at the time of the Glorious Revolution...
claimant
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
to the British throne
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
.
The name of "Roehenstart" given to him in infancy combined the names of both of his parents, Rohan and Stuart, while failing to proclaim their identity, which at the time would have been a cause for scandal.
Although he retired from military service as a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, he is sometimes called "General" Charles Edward Stuart, and this title appears on his gravestone at Dunkeld
Dunkeld Cathedral
Dunkeld Cathedral stands on the north bank of the River Tay in Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Built in square-stone style of predominantly grey sandstone, the cathedral proper was begun in 1260 and completed in 1501...
.
Life
Infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism or pedobaptism from the Greek pais meaning "child." The practice is sometimes contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism", or...
into the Roman Catholic faith on 13 May 1784 at the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Saint-Merry
Saint-Merri
The Church of Saint-Merri is a small church in Paris, located on the busy street Rue Saint Martin, on the Right Bank....
in the rue de Saint Martin, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, when he was described as a son of Maximilian Roehenstart and of Clementine Ruthven. He was named Charles Edward after his royal grandfather. The letters of Roehenstart's mother to her own mother, Clementina Walkinshaw
Clementina Walkinshaw
Clementina Maria Sophia Walkinshaw was the mistress of Bonnie Prince Charlie.Clementina was the youngest of the ten daughters of John Walkinshaw of Barrowhill . The Walkinshaws owned the lands of Barrowfield and Camlachie, and her father had become a wealthy Glasgow merchant...
, provide evidence that this was one of her children, two daughters and one son, all fathered by Ferdinand de Rohan. The daughters were Marie Victoire Adélaïde ("Aglae"), who was baptized at the Château de Couzières on 19 June 1779, and Charlotte Maximilienne Amélie, born during the summer of 1780. The pregnancy with Roehenstart delayed Charlotte's plans to join her father in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, he having been kept in ignorance of all three children.
On 23 March 1783, the ailing Prince Charles Edward had legitimated Charlotte, created her Duchess of Albany in the Jacobite Peerage
Jacobite peerage
After the deposition by the English parliament in February 1689 of King James II and VII from the thrones of England and Ireland , he and his successors continued to create peers and baronets, which they believed was their right...
, and made her his heir. She travelled to join him soon after the birth of Roehenstart, leaving her children behind in the care of her own mother, herself taking on the responsibility for nursing her father until his death on 31 January 1788. Less than two years later, on 17 November 1789, Charlotte herself died of cancer in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. In her Will, Charlotte did not mention her children but left money to her mother Clementina "to allow her the power of disposing at her death of fifty thousand francs in favour of any of her necessitous relations". Cardinal Henry Stuart
Henry Benedict Stuart
Henry Benedict Stuart was a Roman Catholic Cardinal, as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the throne...
, who was her uncle and executor as well as being the new Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
pretender
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
, delayed releasing the money for two years.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and Roehenstart was raised in the reformed faith
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. During the years of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, his father paid for his education in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. A substantial fortune came to Roehenstart from his grandmother, much of which on the recommendation of Thomas Coutts
Thomas Coutts
Thomas Coutts was an Anglo-Scottish banker who was the founder of the banking house of Coutts & Co.He was the fourth son of John Coutts , who carried on business in Edinburgh as a corn factor and negotiator of bills of exchange, and who in 1742 was elected lord provost of the city...
was invested in London with Turnbull, Forbes & Co., but the firm went bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in 1803. Most of the remainder of his fortune, one hundred thousand roubles, was invested with a Russian banker named Sofniev.
In later life, Roehenstart stated that in 1800 he had been commissioned as an artillery officer of the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
and had been promoted by 1803. On 8 August 1804, in Paris, he signed his name as a witness at the marriage of his sister Charlotte de Roehenstart to Jean-Louis de la Morliere. By 1806, he was no longer in the army, having resigned his commission as a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, and had taken service in the household of Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg, who was Tsar Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
's Governor of White Ruthenia
White Russia
White Russia or White Ruthenia is a name that has historically been applied to a part of the wider region of Ruthenia or Rus', most often to that which roughly corresponds to the eastern part of present-day Belarus including the cities of Polatsk, Vitsyebsk and Mahiliou. In English, the use of the...
. In Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Roehenstart was presented to the Tsarina, who was impressed by him. In 1811, he was offered the hand of an heiress, Marianna Hurko, but made the mistake of falling in love with her sister, Evelina, who was promised elsewhere. Unhappily, at about the same time Roehenstart's banker Sofniev failed, and Roehenstart was advised that he would recover only about five thousand roubles from the disaster. To the distress and anger of the Wurttembergs, he fled Russia, sailing from Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
and arriving in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by November 1811. From there, he set sail for North America, in pursuit of John Forbes, a partner in Turnbull, Forbes & Co. who after the firm's failure had absconded to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with money Roehenstart believed to be rightfully his. He lived in Philadelphia from 1811 to 1813. He remained in America until 1814.
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, Roehenstart went to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and again to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, unsuccessfully renewing the Stuarts' pursuit of their old claim on the dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
of Queen Mary Beatrice of Modena
Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena was Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of King James II and VII. A devout Catholic, Mary became, in 1673, the second wife of James, Duke of York, who later succeeded his older brother Charles II as King James II...
, his great-great-grandmother.
In about 1820, Roehenstart married Maria Antonietta Sofia Barberini, the daughter of an exile said to be an Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
nobleman
Nobility of Italy
The Nobility of Italy consisted of individuals and their families of Italy recognized by sovereigns, such as the Holy Roman Emperor, the Holy See, Kings of Italy or certain other Italian kings and sovereigns as members of a class of persons officially enjoying hereditary privileges which...
. She died the next year and on 20 July 1821 was buried under the name of "Countess Roehenstart" at Marylebone
St Marylebone Parish Church
-First church:The first church for the parish was built in the vicinity of the present Marble Arch c.1200, and dedicated to St John the Evangelist.-Second church:...
, London, her age at death being stated as thirty. On 13 December 1826, at St Pancras
St Pancras Old Church
St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in central London. It is believed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England, and is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, although the building itself is largely Victorian...
, London, he married secondly Louisa Constance Bouchier Smith, an Englishwoman possessing a modest fortune, the daughter of Joseph Bouchier Smith, sometime lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
of Kidlington
Kidlington
Kidlington is a large village and civil parish between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and southwest of Bicester.-History:...
in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, who had recently died. Louisa Constance lived until 20 October 1853, dying at Paris, but there were no children of either marriage.
Following his second marriage, Roehenstart returned to continental Europe and spent much of the next twenty-five years travelling, usually without his wife, but they were settled permanently in his native Paris. In later life, Roehenstart spoke openly of his royal descent, but he became so boastful of his origins and adventures that few believed him. In 1853, he lost his wife, and in 1854 he revisited Scotland. While there he was fatally injured in a road accident, when he was travelling in a carriage which overturned. He was buried in the graveyard of Dunkeld Cathedral
Dunkeld Cathedral
Dunkeld Cathedral stands on the north bank of the River Tay in Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Built in square-stone style of predominantly grey sandstone, the cathedral proper was begun in 1260 and completed in 1501...
. His friends provided a modest headstone, with the inscription "Sacred to the memory of General Charles Edward Stuart Count Roehenstart who died at Dunkeld on the 28th October 1854 Sic transit gloria mundi
Sic transit gloria mundi
Sic transit gloria mundi is a Latin phrase that means "Thus passes the glory of the world". It has been interpreted as "Worldly things are fleeting." It is possibly an adaptation of a phrase in Thomas à Kempis's 1418 work The Imitation of Christ: "O quam cito transit gloria mundi" .The phrase was...
".
In the twentieth century Roehenstart's papers came into the hands of the American scholar George Sherburn, who produced a comprehensive account of him from them.
Pretender to the throne
In order to lay a claim of his own to the British throneMonarchy of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
, Roehenstart maintained consistently that his grandfather Prince Charles Edward had married his grandmother, Clementina Walkinshaw, and also that his mother the Duchess of Albany had married a Swedish nobleman
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
named Maximilian Roehenstart. The first is unlikely, although not an impossibility, but it lacks evidence; nothing has come to light to support the second claim, and there is no Swedish noble family named Roehenstart. On the contrary, Charlotte's relationship with Rohan is well evidenced.
Although he laid claim to the Jacobite succession
Jacobite succession
The Jacobite succession is the line through which the crown in pretence of England and Scotland has descended since the flight of James II & VII from London at the time of the Glorious Revolution...
, Roehenstart made no practical attempt to regain the throne of his Stuart ancestors
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
. He did seek to maintain links with leading Scots and at the time of his death was returning from a visit to the Duke of Atholl
George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl
George Augustus Frederick John Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl KT, DL was a Scottish peer and freemason....
at Blair Castle
Blair Castle
Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the home of the Clan Murray family, who hold the title of Duke of Atholl, though the current Duke, John Murray, lives in South Africa....
in Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
.