Rome: Commemoration of 250th anniversary of James Frances Stuart

Painting - Antonio David 1720

Today, 8 January 2016, with the gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen, the British Ambassador to the Holy See Nigel Baker laid a wreath at the tomb of James Francis Edward Stuart at St Peter's Basilica, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his State funeral.

James Francis Edward Stuart was the son of King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland and Queen Mary of Modena. He was also known as 'the Old Pretender' and claimed the throne as 'James III of England and Ireland, VIII of Scotland'. He died in exile in Rome on 1 January 1766 and was given the unprecedented honour of a State funeral by the Pope on 8 January in St Peter's Basilica, where he lies. The Pope recognised him as King, but did not extend that title to his sons in tacit, and later explicit recognition of the Hanoverian succession.

The commemoration ceremony consisted of a simple wreath-laying and the appropriate Collect (in English) by HM Ambassador Baker, the reading of the Rite of Commendation (in Latin) by HE Angelo Cardinal Comastri, Archpriest of St Peter's Basilica, and the sung Antiphon In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli.

HM Ambassador was accompanied by the Rt Rev Monsignor Charles Burns, Ecclesiastical Advisor at the British Embassy to the Holy See. HE Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Holy See Secretary for Relations with States, and HE Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, attended from the Holy See. Other participants included Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor, the Polish and Irish Ambassadors to the Holy See, the Rectors of the Pontifical Beda, Scots, Irish and Venerable English Colleges, and ecumenical representatives.

James Francis Edward Stewart was the son of King James II and Mary of Modena, father of 'Bonnie' Prince Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict, Cardinal York. Born at St James's Palace, London, on 10th June 1688, he was taken into exile in December 1688 following the deposition of James II. He lived in the Palazzo Muti in Rome from 1719 until his death.

Henry Benedict, Cardinal York presided over the funeral liturgy in 1766. He later received a pension from the Prince Regent in the early 1800s after his
lands were confiscated by Napoleon.

The Stuart tomb at St Peter's was restored including with money donated by Queen Elizabeth (wife of George VI) in the 1940s. In 2012, HRH The Duke of
Gloucester unveiled a restored coat of arms of Cardinal York at the Pontifical Scots College, and viewed the original Stuart gravestones which were transferred there in the 1940s.