Henry Benedict Stuart

Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York (6 March 1725 – 13 July 1807), also known as the Cardinal of York, was a cardinal, and was the third and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as the younger grandson of King James VII and II. One of the longest-serving cardinals in history, Henry spent his whole life in the Papal States and became the dean of the College of Cardinals and cardinal-bishop of Ostia and Velletri. Unlike his father James Francis Edward Stuart (The Old Pretender) and elder brother Charles Edward Stuart (The Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie), Henry made no effort to seize the thrones. After Charles's death in 1788, Henry became known by Jacobites as Henry IX and I, but the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of England, Scotland, and Ireland and instead referred to him as the "Cardinal Duke of York". He was most widely known as the Duke of York, a title in the Jacobite peerage granted to him by his father.

Early life

Henry was born in exile at the Palazzo Muti in Rome on 6 March 1725 and baptised on the same day by Pope Benedict XIII, 37 years after his grandfather James VII and II lost the thrones, and ten years after his father's failed attempt to regain it. His father was James Francis Edward Stuart, known to his opponents as "the Old Pretender". His mother was the Princess Maria Klementyna Sobieska, granddaughter of the Polish King and Lithuanian Grand-Duke, John III Sobieski. Henry was apparently an intelligent child who could spell and write better than his older brother Charles. More introverted than Charles and more cautious in his approach to problems, Henry was described as pious and mild-mannered.

Henry went to France in 1745 to help his brother, Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie", or "the Young Pretender") prepare the Jacobite rising of 1745.