№ 997

Bag embroidered with thistles and initials: J.R.8 for James VIII, The Old Pretender

Purse is a gift from prince James VIII to a Scottish noble supporter. Prince James Edward Stuart (1688, London —1766, Rome), son of the deposed Roman Catholic monarch James II of England, claimant to the English and Scottish thrones. Styled James III of England and James VIII of Scotland by his supporters, and nicknamed the Old Pretender, he made several halfhearted efforts to gain his crown. James II's Protestant elder daughter (the prince's half-sister), Mary II, and her Dutch husband William III of Orange, stadtholder of Holland, became co-monarchs of the British throne. Scottish supporters wanted the Catholic Prince James III on the British and Scotish Throne.