1. Flora MacDonald's family had generally backed the government during the 1745 Rising, and MacDonald later claimed to have assisted Charles out of sympathy for his situation.
16 Facts About Flora MacDonald
1. 2.
Flora MacDonald later married Allan MacDonald and the couple emigrated to North Carolina in 1773.
3.
Flora MacDonald's father was a member of the minor gentry of Clan MacDonald of Clanranald, being tacksman and leaseholder of Milton and Balivanich.
4.
Flora MacDonald had two brothers, Angus, who later inherited the Milton tack, and Ronald, who died young.
5.
Particularly in the Hebrides, elements of the Clan Donald remained faithful, despite religious persecution, to the Catholic Church, but Flora came from South Uist's Protestant minority.
6.
Flora MacDonald's father died soon after her birth and in 1728 her mother married again, this time to Hugh MacDonald, Tacksman of Armadale, Isle of Skye.
7.
Flora MacDonald was brought up by her father's cousin, Sir Alexander Flora MacDonald, Chief of Clan Macdonald of Sleat.
8.
One of his companions, Felix O'Neille y O'Neille, was a distant relative of Flora MacDonald, who asked for her help.
9.
The next day, the Prince was taken from Portree to the island of Raasay, while Flora MacDonald remained on Skye.
10.
Flora MacDonald was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
11.
Flora MacDonald allegedly told Frederick she helped Charles out of charity, and would have done the same for him.
12.
Flora MacDonald spent the next few years living with various family members, including Dunvegan home of her son-in-law Major General Alexander MacLeod, the largest landowner in Skye after the MacDonalds.
13.
Traditional portrayals of the escape focus on Charles, with Flora MacDonald relegated to a secondary role.
14.
Michael Newton, a modern scholar of Scottish Gaelic literature, argues English-language versions fail to recognise that not only is her husband the celebrated iconic hero in the Gaelic oral tradition, but that, "Flora MacDonald was only one of many people who risked their lives to protect" the Prince during his flight after Culloden.
15.
Flora MacDonald was painted several times by Scottish portrait artist Allan Ramsay, most of which have now survived.
16.
In 1878, Flora MacDonald joined this list with the publication of an alleged "Autobiography".