Scotland: Jacobite Rising of 1745

The Jacobite Rising of 1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Battlefields of the Highlands

Scotland’s Northern Highlands are a place of mysterious beauty, where Scottish descendants will find a welcoming homeland, and where all travelers will find a unique and inspirational history. As you’ll learn from our tour, the Highlands have not always been so inviting. In the wake of its defeat by the British army in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Northern Scotland was left with its lands ravaged and its population either annihilated or exiled.

The seeds of the Rebellion (also known as The ‘45) were sown in 1603, with England’s first Stuart king, James I, at the time King James VI of Scotland. In 1688 his Catholic grandson, King James III, was deposed and fled to France. Nevertheless, the Stuarts held the throne until 1714, when the House of Hanover assumed the crown.

By 1745, Prince Charles Edward—Bonnie Prince Charlie—was the third generation of Stuarts in exile. Counting on help from France and from Stuart loyalists—the Jacobites—Charles entered Scotland in July of 1745, with the aim of winning back the crown for his father.

Jacobites earned surprising victories at Falkirk and Prestonpans, and, though seriously outnumbered, held off the British at Fort William and other sites. Their luck ran out at Culloden, where they were slaughtered in a savage fight.

We’ll see the battlefields, castles, forts and fields where the Jacobites fought well and made their last stand. Our tour will also include some of the film locations for The Outlander cable series—sites where Claire travels back in time to rejoin Jamie during the period of Scottish history covered by our tour.

Tour Highlights

Historians