Northern Europe
Bonnie Prince Charlie, played by actor Sam Heughan, becomes a central figure, but not without some controversy. The showrunners decided to portray him as an ineffectual leader who ultimately led the Highlanders to their doom. Whichever way you land on this interpretation, one thing is certain: his legacy in Scotland is inescapable. Walk With Charlie in Edinburgh and Beyond To walk in the footsteps of Charles, Edinburgh is a very good start. Two months after landing in the Outer Hebrides with just a handful of supporters to begin his campaign, he’d amassed sufficient Highland clansmen to be able to occupy Edinburgh and declare his father, James, the rightful king. It’s said that 60,000 cheering people lined the Royal Mile to welcome him. His men couldn’t capture Edinburgh Castle from government troops. Still, he set up court in Holyrood Palace and won his first significant victory over Hanoverian troops at the Battle of Preston Pans.
He landed in Scotland in 1745, raised an army and eventually advanced into England. But he and his troops were forced to retreat, and Charles was eventually stopped at the tragic Battle of Culloden in 1746. After Culloden, Flora MacDonald, a young Jacobite heroine, helped him escape over the sea to Skye, as the romantic “The Skye Boat Song” goes, when government troops were hunting him. The tale of his escape is cemented into Scottish folklore, contemporary literature and entertainment. Renewed Interest in the Prince Some have claimed that we are living in the golden age of historical fiction—a sub-genre that sets an imagined story within the setting of a true event. Readers are increasingly drawn to these immersive and engaging stories as a way to learn about historical events, figures, and cultures. Among the most successful historical fantasy novels of recent times is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series about, a fictional tale of time travel and romance that begins in the era of the Jacobite Risings. So popular, in fact, the novels were made into a television series that is now in its seventh season.
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