Exeter House in Derby, where he lodged from December 2nd/ 6th 1745, had few if any happy memories for Prince Charles Edward. In a fine dark oak wainscoted room his Council of War resolved late on December 5th to abandon their advance to London to restore his father King James VIII and III to his rightful throne They would return to the Highlands. The panelling from that fateful room was preserved when the house was demolished in 1854 and a ‘Mannequin Prince’ [MP] placed under house arrest sine die at the time of the room’s eventual reconstruction at Derby Museum.
Myriad visitors came to the exhibition and included on even date in December 2006 Trustees from the newly established Battle of Prestonpans [1745] Heritage Trust. It is a Scottish charity committed to doing all it can to protect and interpret the Prince’s victory in Prestonpans on 21st September 1745 and the enduring Jacobite cultural heritage not just from 1745 but from his grandfather’s original exile in 1688 until the death of his brother Cardinal Henry Stuart in 1809.
It’s impossible to comprehend what MP Charles made of the panelled room he surveyed there, his countless visitors and their observations he often overheard. But his sentence in Derby Museum finally ended in 2021 and he has voluntarily chosen to return to preside in a place with uplifting memories, of Victory, Hope and Ambition as his campaign had got into full swing across Scotland in the summer of 1745. And on his desk today in Prestonpans Town Hall he proudly displays his copy of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, published just as he returned. Inspired by ‘Artificial Friend’ [AF] Klara he’ll certainly be both recording and airing his thoughts in future. He’s starting a blog! MPCharles@battleofprestonpans1745.org
