The Standard is raised
On 19 August 1745, at the head of Loch Shiel in the western Highlands, Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Royal Standard of the House of Stuart and formally proclaimed his father James VIII as King of Great Britain. The spot was Glenfinnan — a narrow strip of flat ground where the River Finnan meets the loch, hemmed in by steep, dark mountains. It was one of the most dramatic moments in Scottish history, and one of the most reckless gambles ever taken on British soil.
The morning had been agonising. Charles arrived at Glenfinnan with only a small entourage, and for hours no one came. The prince waited, increasingly anxious, as the minutes stretched on. Then, at around midday, the sound of pipes echoed through the glen. Over the hill came Cameron of Lochiel at the head of eight hundred clansmen. Behind them came three hundred MacDonalds of Keppoch. By the end of the day, approximately 1,200 Highlanders had gathered. It was enough to begin.
The standard was unfurled by the aged Marquess of Tullibardine, who had to be supported by two men as he held the silk banner aloft. A manifesto was read, commissions were granted, and the clans cheered. The '45 Rising had begun. Within six weeks, Charles would capture Edinburgh. Within three months, he would defeat a government army at Prestonpans and march into England. By December, his Highland army would reach Derby, just 125 miles from London, throwing the Hanoverian court into panic.
The Glenfinnan Monument, a tall column topped by a kilted Highland figure, was erected in 1815 by Alexander MacDonald of Glenaladale to honour the clansmen who fought and died in the '45. It stands at the head of Loch Shiel, one of the most photographed spots in the Scottish Highlands. The Glenfinnan Viaduct, built above the monument in 1901 and made famous by the Harry Potter films, adds a layer of modern pilgrimage to this already storied landscape. But the true significance of Glenfinnan is older and deeper — it is the place where Highland loyalty to the Stuarts was given its last, doomed expression, and where the road to Culloden began.