Charming, dignified and courageous.
Survived two wars
Rescued a prince
Who is this person we speak of?
Flora MacDonald, that's who.
Have you heard of her?
No?
Well let us introduce you to this icon of her time.
To understand Flora's importance in history, let's go back to the Jacobite Rebellion.
When Bonnie Prince Charlie wanted to reclaim the British throne for the Royal House of Stuart,
after his grandfather, King James VI & II was ousted.
Flora was only twenty-four when she met the defeated Prince Charlie
who was weary, ill, and on the run for his life after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden.
She hadn't openly picked sides in the Jacobite Rebellion against the Crown.
But she was persuaded to help Charlie's escape.
With an enormous bounty on his head, it was a huge risk.
She could have turned him in herself and made a fortune
but she couldn't refuse to aid someone in need.
She disguised him as her Irish maid, Betty Burke
And smuggled him to Skye.
Charlie returned safely to France because of Flora's bravery.
And the legendary rescue is immortalised in The Skye Boat Song.
Soon after, she was arrested for aiding a traitor, and eventually taken by boat to London.
Despite facing possible execution, she was strong and dignified.
The Captins were so taken by her manner that they requested she be shown mercy.
Flora was permitted to be held out of prison on parole,
so was spared the terror of the Tower of London.
She became something of a celebrity,
and was even visited by the Prince of Wales
When the prince asked why she had aided his father's enemy
she said confidently, 'I would have done the same thing for him had I found him in distress'.
Flora was eventually given her freedom in 1747
a year after Prince Charlie's escape.
Upon her release, she gave a portrait of herself to one of the Captains as a thank you.
Flora travelled throughout the United Kingdom to meet her admirers
before eventually settling in Skye.
But her story doesn't end in Scotland.
In 1750 she married Allan Macdonald.
He was a terrible businessman, and his cattle dealings put the family in debt.
In 1774, Flora and Allan emigrated with their elder children to America.
North Carolina was full of Scottish ex-pats, who had also emigrated
And upon Flora's arrival, they held a ball in her honour.
The family settled on a plantation in Anson County
where they kept cattle and had orchards and a mill.
But almost immediately Flora was stuck in the middle of another war
The American War of Independence
Once again she was forced to pick sides.
She chose loyalty to the Crown - and she chose wrong.
Her husband was captured, her plantation was ravaged, and for two years Flora hid.
She then moved to Nova Scotia, after her husband's release.
But she was sick and weak.
She longed to return home
Despite a life full of twists and turns, adventures and misadventures,
Flora lived the rest of her years peacefully on Skye.
When she died, her body was laid to rest wrapped in the sheet Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept in.
Flora lives on in print and films, as a romantic heroine who saved Bonnie Prince Charlie's life and legacy.
Her legacy in North Carolina is remembered too.
As the diarist Samuel Johnstone once wrote, 'her name will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour.'
Now that you know her story, we hope you will always remember her name. Flora MacDonald.