Flora MacDonald was born in 1722 in Milton on the Outer Hebrides Island of South Uist, Scotland. Her father died in 1724 and four years later her mother married kinsman Hugh MacDonald who lived on the Isle of Skye. Flora lived with her brother Angus on Uist where she was educated. She received further education in Edinburgh, and at age 23 returned to her home.
Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart)
In 1745 there were rumours that Prince Charles Edward Stuart, later known as Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Young Pretender, planned a rebellion against King George of the House of Hanover. He was the hope of many Jacobites, especially in the northern Highlands and western Islands. In April 1746 on Culloden Moor, the clansmen were hopelessly beaten. Charles, a hunted man with a 30,000 pound bounty on his head, sought lodging and food as he travelled to the coast and hoped for escape to France. Every ferry and landing place was guarded.
Flora MacDonald and Dangerous Trip to Isle of Skye
Flora MacDonald hesitated when asked by her relatives to help Prince Charles, but soon agreed. She obtained passports for herself and two companions and made plans to visit her mother on Skye. One of her companions was a tall Irish maid whose services were reported to be required by Flora’s mother. The maid, Betty Burke, was the Prince in disguise.
Six boatmen sworn to secrecy took them forty miles through fierce storms and threats of capture near the shore. At Skye, Prince Charles hid in a cave and Flora and her servant went to the home of her friend Lady Margaret MacDonald where there were several visitors including military personnel. Questioned about her travels, Flora was able to give satisfactory answers to the visitors. When the officers left, Lady Margaret and Mr. MacDonald of Kingsburgh planned Prince Charles’ escape.
Flora MacDonald and Prince Charles Part Company
They took the Prince to Kingsburgh’s home twelve miles away where they arrived at midnight. The next morning, in a hidden place away from Kingsburgh’s home, Prince Charles changed his clothes from woman’s dress to those of a Highland farmer. At Portee, Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie parted company. He thanked her for her extraordinary services and presented her with a gold locket that held his portrait. Prince Charles then travelled ten miles by boat from Skye to Raasay Island and eventually returned to France. A bitter alcoholic, Bonnie Prince Charlie died January 31, 1786 in Rome.
Tower of London Imprisonment
Flora visited her mother for a while then returned to her home where she learned that the boatmen who had taken Flora and the Prince to Skye were captured. Their responses to government soldiers’ questions put suspicion on Flora. Forced to answer to a charge of helping the Prince, she confessed and declared no regret. Flora was imprisoned first in Scotland, then briefly in the Tower of London until her release under general amnesty in 1747.
She lived for two years with her brother on Uist, then married Alan MacDonald of Kingsburgh, son of the man who helped Prince Charles escape. With their large family they lived in the home where the Prince had stayed before his departure.
Loyalists in the American Revolution
When Flora was in her fifties, she moved to the Cape Fear area of North Carolina with her husband and children where they were successful farmers. Siding with the King during the American Revolution, Alan and a son entered the Loyalist service and were taken prisoner during battle.
Flora MacDonald Monument
Upon his release, they returned to their Kingsburgh home on Skye where they lived the remainder of their years. Flora died there in March 1790 and was buried wrapped in the sheet used by the Prince during his stay at Kingsburgh. There is a large monument where she is buried in the churchyard of Kilmuir, two miles from the place where she and Prince Charles reached safety in 1746. The legend of Flora MacDonald’s bravery and loyalty continue to this day.
Source: History of the Rebellion in Scotland, 1745, 1746
In Constable’s Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications Vol. XVI
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