The Jacobite Rebellion and After

Great Britain as a nation was invented in 1707 by the Act of Union, linking Scotland with England and Wales. In theory, England and Scotland had united in 1603 when the Scottish James 1 succeeded his cousin, Elizabeth 1. After the Catholic James II was exiled in 1688 and Queen Anne had produced no heir, reaffirmation was needed when it was decided to import a new Protestant dynasty from Hanover. Many Scots regarded Charles Edward Stuart, nicknamed Bonny Prince Charlie, the grandson of James II, as the rightful heir to the British throne.

Two Jacobite revolts (in 1715 and 1719), had already failed when Charles Edward landed in the Hebrides in 1745, with a small invasion force and rallied 2,500 Highland clansmen. They took Edinburgh and then marched as far south as Derby before being forced to retreat. They were defeated on 16 April 1746 at the battle of Culloden on Drumossie Moor near Inverness, the last battle to be fought on British soil. Charles Edward fled and the Jacobite cause went underground. His supporters would drink secretly to the King over the water, from wine glasses engraved with the white rose or the oak. He died, disillusioned, in Rome in 1788, but his memory became the focus for later Scottish Nationalism. The new Scottish Parliament at Holyrood was finally opened in October 2004.