Bonnie Prince Charlie's victory ball at Palace of Holyroodhouse revealed in unearthed letter

For more than two centuries, it has been an event steeped in romanticism and hero worship of a bonnie prince.

Now, for the first time, a letter buried deep in a private Jacobite archive has proven for the first time that Prince Charles Edward Stuart did throw a ball at the Palace of Holyroodhouse during the 1745 Rising and the party was more than just an artistic invention.

Bonnie Prince Charlie Entering the Ballroom at Holyroodhouse by John Pettie, c.1892 The painting is on public display in the Lobby of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust | © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2024 | Royal Collection Trust

It is now known the ball took place on September 23, 1745 - and more than likely held to mark the Jacobite victory at the Battle of Prestonpans just two days before.

READ MORE: What if the Jacobites had won the Battle of Culloden?

The Jacobite ball at the palace, where the prince held court after capturing Edinburgh, has long lingered in the imagination after it was depicted - almost 70 years later - by Walter Scott in his book Waverley. Then, drawing on the author’s work, artist John Pettie revealed his rather dreamy portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie Entering the Ballroom at Holyrood House, which was painted in 1892.

Proof the event did happen - and that it was no figment of the romantic mind - has come in a letter between two Scottish nobles, one who attended the event.

The letter was sent from the Duke of Perth to Lord Ogilvy and was written at Holyroodhouse on September 30, 1745.

Members of the Royal Company of Archers at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh in July 2023. A new letter has shown Prince Charles Edward Stuart did throw a ball at the Palace of Holyroodhouse Picture: PA | PA

It refers to a “great ball at ye palace’ on ‘Monday last’.

The letter was discovered by Deborah Clarke, senior curator at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, while researching her new book The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Ms Clarke said “nothing concrete” was known about a Jacobite ball at the palace until the letter was found.

She said: “There were talks of balls and in later documents it is mentioned in a very general way that there were evening entertainments, but there was also the thought that Sir Walter Scott, who described a ball in Waverley, may have just invented it.

“Also there is the late 19th-century painting by Pettie, a very romantic portrait of the prince entering the ballroom with flowers scattered at this feet. It was part of the story of Holyrood, yet there was no documentary mention of a specific ball. And then, this letter came to light.”

Ms Clarke said she knew “straight away” the reference was significant.

She said: “We are forever trying to tell the story that ‘well there was probably a ball here’. So yes, I knew it was very significant to have this particular date and this contemporary reference. It is very exciting to have this very specific reference.”

While the letter confirms the ball took place, it does not confirm whether the prince attended.

Ms Clarke said: “We woud assume he was there because it was a victory ball and he was the one holding court there. Whilst he was there at Holyrood, one of his aims was to make himself as visible as possible. He used to dine in public and lots of people watched him having his meals because it was a sign of royalty. He was trying to portray himself as a prince, so he will have wanted to be the person holding court in that room.

“Another really significant thing is that the room where the ball is held is called the Great Gallery and has all these portraits on the wall of the Stuarts. It would have been a very significant moment for him to be entertaining as a prince surrounded by all these Stuart portraits.

“The ball would have been reinforcing this - entertaining in the palace of his ancestors surrounded by all these portraits.”