James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales, was born under difficult circumstances in St James’ Palace to the Catholic monarchs, Queen Mary Beatrice d’Este of Modena and James II, King of England, in the summer of 1688. All three members of the royal family would end up in exile in France when James II’s Protestant nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange, invaded England in November, resulting in the Glorious Revolution and James II’s deposition/abdication. The Prince of Wales would spend many years in France, and when his father died, his supporters recognized him as King James III, while his opposition called him the Old Pretender.

There would be many attempts to regain the English throne by James II and James III. Some European courts recognized James III as the legitimate king, but many didn’t. Mary Beatrice turned her attention to the marriage of her son following the death of Queen Anne in 1714 and the possibility, once again, of accession to the throne of England. The Austrian Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI addressed the idea of helping James Stuart regain his throne, and discussions commenced for a marriage with one of his daughters.  

During these negotiations, they discussed other women if the Austrian match failed. King John III of Poland’s French widow, Queen Marie Casimire, was the first to suggest a match with John’s granddaughter Maria Clementina Sobieska, daughter of a Polish noble. Other names included the niece of the Czar, the sister of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, the princess of Baden and the princess of Saxony. James complained about the candidates, saying the Baden princess was a dwarf and the princess of Saxony too old. He stated his preference for the teenage Maria Clementina.

Born on July 18, 1702, Maria Clementina (known as Clementina by the English) was the third and youngest daughter of James Sobieski, prince of Poland, and Hedwig Elizabeth of Neuberg, the daughter of Philip William, Elector Palatine. Clementina’s ancestors were minor fifteenth-century Polish nobility and by the seventeenth century they had become prominent magnates in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, finally obtaining royal status in 1674. Clementina’s grandfather was the Polish hero King John III, who drove back the Turks from the gates of Vienna in 1683. The Polish crown was not a hereditary office, and Clementina’s father failed to be elected king of Poland.

Clementina was her father’s favorite. She is described as having great wit and the best humor, small in stature but with a very pleasing personality. Clementina’s sisters married well. Casimira’s family arranged her betrothal to James Francis Edward’s cousin, the duke of Modena. Her sister Charlotte married the duc de Bouillon, who served as chamberlain of France and was a drinking partner of King Louis XIV.

Discussion for a marriage between Clementina and James III arose again in September 1716. Prince James Sobieski’s agent drew up a document about his master’s intentions regarding his daughter. The dowry would comprise one million livres, with 800,000 paid initially and another 200,000 to be paid later. Despite James III’s dire straits and precarious position, Clementina’s father was eager for the marriage. The Stuart court believed James would soon gain back the throne and may have insisted on this huge dowry to stall the negotiations so they could pursue a more prestigious alliance, so no marriage went forward.

By 1718, James III was thirty, had never married, had no heir and increasingly diminished prospects of returning to England as king. His proposal to the daughter of the Duke of Modena had been rejected. Finding a bride for James proved difficult, not just because he had no throne, but the newly installed Hanoverian government of King George I in London put every obstacle in the way of any Stuart marriage.

James gave a loyalist Irish adventurer named Charles Wogan the assignment of finding a suitable bride, directing him to enquire further about James Sobieski’s daughters. During Wogan’s travels, he encountered the three princesses at Ohlau (Oława in Polish) and became captivated by the sixteen-year-old Clementina. He found her to be pious and beautiful, with large glowing eyes, brown hair, and a passionate desire to become queen of Britain.

Her godfather was the pope, and she would bring a large dowry. Wogan wrote admiringly of Clementina to James. His efforts resulted in a proposal from Wogan on James III’s behalf in June 1718. Her father immediately accepted. They signed the marriage treaty at Ohlau on July 22, 1718. Clementina’s dowry, which was 600,000 livres of rentes invested at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, came from Prince James’ inheritance from his mother, Queen Casimire.

Other items mentioned included an estate at Szawle in northern Lithuania, and 250,000 livres owed by King Augustus II of Poland to Prince James Sobieski. James III never collected on these last two items. The dowry also included some valuable jewelry. Besides the dowry Clementina brought to the Stuarts, she brought her powerful family connections. Through her mother, Clementina was related to her aunts, who were Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Spain.

The trip of Clementina and her mother from Poland to Ferrara via Austria to meet James III was supposed to be straightforward. But King George I of Great Britain convinced the Holy Roman Emperor to issue orders for Clementina to be detained on her voyage. Charles VI had her imprisoned in the Schloss Ambras at Innsbruck, where she spent the winter of 1718-19. The intrepid Wogan proposed a rescue mission and recruited three officers from the exiled Irish regiments in France.

The soldiers who arrived at Innsbruck on April 27, 1719, successfully recovered Clementina. The wife of one of the Irish officers, along with her servant named Jeanneton, entered the inn and exchanged the maid’s clothing with Clementina. They met up with Wogan and, following a nightmare journey over the Brenner Pass, Clementina arrived in Bologna.

James was away in Spain, searching for help for yet another attempt to regain his throne. He left instructions for a proxy ceremony to be performed immediately upon her arrival. This took place on May 9, and Clementina arrived in Rome a week later, where festivities began in honor of the new British queen.

James returned to Italy on September 2 after the failed 1719 Jacobite uprising and met his wife for the first time at Montefiascone. That same day, a second marriage ceremony took place at the cathedral. The couple settled in the Palazzo Muti, a small residence in Rome provided to them by the pope. Clementina gave birth to a healthy son christened Charles Edward (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie) on December 31, 1720. She would give birth to a second son, Henry Benedict, on March 6, 1725.

Even before giving birth to her first son, the marriage appeared to be on the rocks. Clementina exhibited signs of anxiety and homesickness. James, twelve years older than his bride, had a cheerless, stoic and pragmatic approach to life, the opposite of Clementina’s idealistic and romantic soul. The tiny and dowdy Palazzo Muti did not compare positively to her palatial home in Ohlau. James constantly withdrew to his closet, where he wrote letters and plotted his royal restoration.

It didn’t take long for Clementina to realize she may be called queen of Britain, but she would never actually reign in that country. She was in an awkward position as a queen of an expelled Stuart monarch whose court was not acknowledged as legitimate by many European kingdoms. The Stuarts upheld their sovereignty with households for both the king and queen, administering a shadow government including a peerage and knightage, all while in exile.

There were frequent quarrels devolving into tantrums by Clementina, resulting in James’ cold withdrawal. Although they argued loudly and frequently when together, they appeared to miss each other when they were apart. When correspondence arrived from Ohlau with the news that Clementina’s mother was dying, James intercepted the letters and tried to divert her attention by taking her to horse races and engaging in visits to religious houses in Bologna and Lucca.

Clementina objected to the presence of James Murray, James III’s acting secretary of state, Murray’s sister Marjory and her husband John Hay, head of the king’s household, all Protestants. John Hays prevailed upon James not to allow Clementina control over her own servants, appointing them for her. There were many at court who loathed these parties because of their rude and arrogant behavior. They dominated the exiled court, and James did not tolerate any criticism of his favorites.

Both parents were utterly devoted to Charles Edward, but they argued about how to raise him. Clementina craved compensation for her husband’s neglect, and James knew full well the child was his heir in the royal line. At first, Protestant nurses cared for Charles Edward, such as Marjory Hay, but one of James’ advisors proposed a Catholic, Mrs. Sheldon, as his governess.

Clementina soon fell under the sway of this woman, who aggravated new quarrels over the child’s education. Sheldon resented all the Protestants at court and spread rumors that James was having an affair with Marjory Hay. Hanovarian spies encouraged gossip, including a report that Clementina was the lover of Pope Clement XII.

In this toxic atmosphere, Charles Edward turned rebellious and disobedient, and in November 1725, James removed Mrs. Sheldon and the other female nurses and gave him into the custody of male governors. During this time, Clementina gave birth to her second son, and she began suffering from some form of hysteria, most likely postpartum depression. Urged on by Mrs. Sheldon, Clementina viewed the placement of her first-born with so many men as James’ attempt to cut her off from her son.

Clementina insisted James dismiss John Hay and others. James refused and fired Mrs. Sheldon. On November 15, 1725, Clementina left the palace with Sheldon and a few other ladies and sought sanctuary in the convent of St. Cecilia, where she complained of her treatment to the nuns. Clementina received visits from the ladies of Rome and dispatched ‘wronged wife’ correspondence to the king of France and the queen of Spain.

She complained she did not feel like the mistress of her own house. It is clear she tried to exert her own independence. James wrote letters to Clementina’s relatives, justifying his own position and even suggesting she should be sent back to Ohlau. He visited her at the convent without any resolution to the situation.

Commentators described Clementina’s behavior, temperament, and religious beliefs in fanatical terms, calling her hysterical, a fool, ostentatious, and jealous. James’s pretensions of religious tolerance did not suit his queen. Outside influence ensured Clementina remained in the convent, proving reconciliation impossible. Their relationship would be a public relations nightmare for the Jacobite supporters and cause.

The British were delighted with the state of confusion in the marriage. The French formed two factions, with one side blaming Clementina because of her indiscretions and the other side opposing James III’s favorites. King Philip V of Spain dispatched an ambassador, the duke of Liria, to bring an end to the estrangement. Liria was an illegitimate grandson of King James II and nephew of James III. Many cardinals visited the couple, seeking reconciliation.

The Pope feared the Stuarts might abandon the Catholic Church to regain the throne and supported Clementina’s cause. The Pope reduced James’s pension from 10,000 Roman scudi to 6,000 scudi and designated the remaining amount to Clementina. Because of this reduction in income, James moved his exiled court to Bologna in October 1726 and pleaded with Clementina to join him and the children. Their meeting went well, but she refused to return to a court dominated by James’ favorites.

James finally agreed to remove John Hay from court, and there was no longer any reason for Clementina to stay away. But she still refused to return, possibly holding out because of unresolved issues over control of her own household. The couple never truly reconciled. With the death of King George I of Great Britain in the summer of 1727, James departed for France to seek the aid of King Louis XV for yet another invasion of England.

Clementina left the convent under papal guard after two years of separation and joined her sons at Bologna, pouring out her love for them. She then abandoned the boys to go on long pilgrimages and refused to join her husband at Avignon. When James returned to Italy in early 1728, she maintained her relationship with Mrs. Sheldon and kept to herself, locked up in her room, seeing no one but her maids. She ate meat during Lent but also maintained strict fasting.

Clementina kept up the fasting, kneeling in prayer in cold, damp churches for so long that her health suffered permanent damage. She refused to join her family for a summer trip, becoming a deeply pious recluse, growing weaker and weaker. Clementina had asthma, manic depression and some kind of allergic condition, and her health alarmingly deteriorated.

Clementina became pregnant in 1728 and lost the child to a miscarriage. There were rumors of other pregnancies, but in truth, James and Clementina rarely slept together as he lived in Albano and she remained in Rome. She still showed great love and affection for her children. Charles traveled to gain military experience with the Spanish army during the siege of Gaeta in southern Italy in 1734.

Terrified for her son’s safety, Clementina spent hours in church praying for him. By the end of the year, it was apparent death was near. It’s possible she contracted tuberculosis because of her weakened condition. She received the last rites of the Catholic Church on January 12, 1735, and died on the 18^th at the Palazzo Muti. Pope Clement XII staged a royal funeral for her and had her buried in St. Peter’s Basilica with a highly decorative monument erected in 1742.

Further reading: “Mary of Modena: Her Life and Letters” by Martin Haile, “Later Stuart Queens, 1660-1735: Religion, Political Culture, and Patronage” edited by Eilish Gregory and Michael C Questier, entry on Clementina [Maria Clementina Stuart, née Sobieska] in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography written by Hugh Douglas, “The Royal Families of Sobieski and Stuart” by Edward Corp