A LETTER written by Bonnie Prince Charlie asking his cousin, the King of France, to send forces to help him capture the British Crown is going under the hammer.
The correspondence, shown by Camilla Riva, was penned by Charles Edward Stuart after the defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden on April 16, 1746.
Bonnie Prince Charlie had escaped to France when he wrote the letter, asking for a "secret rendezvous".
He wrote that the defeat at Culloden was not because he lacked Scottish subjects ready to fight for him, but that he lacked the money, equipment and a regular army.
He said the setback could be reversed if he was provided with a battalion of up to 20,000 men. The letter is expected to fetch up to £12,000 at Lyon & Turnbull on May 7 in Edinburgh.
Simon Vickers, book specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, said the letter "sheds light on the prince's frame of mind, his view of the failure of the rising, and his aims in the crucial months after Culloden".
Picture: Gordon Terris
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