> Steeleye Span > Songs > Prince Charlie Stuart

Prince Charlie Stuart

[ Roud 3099 ; Ballad Index HHH533 ; trad.]

Steeleye Span sang Prince Charlie Stuart in 1971 on their second album, Please to See the King. Maddy Prior sang very much nasal, praising the Young Pretender to a strummed backing, imitating a bagpipe's swirl and melody line, which was here played on Peter Knight's violin.

A live recording from The Forum, London on September 2, 1995 was released on the 2 CD set The Journey.

Even if this song was obviously intended to expand the legend of Bonnie Prince Charlie, one can not help but feel some of the bewilderment that must have struck the rural highlanders when they first saw Charlie Stuart, standing in his aristocratic attire at the shore of Loch Shiel and trying to start a revolution. [Digital Tradition]

Lyrics

If you had seen my Charlie at the head of an army
He was a gallant sight to behold
With his fine tartan hose on his bonnie round leg
And his buckles all pure shining gold
The tartan my love wore was the finest Stuart Kilt
With his soft skin all under it as white as any milk
It's no wonder that seven hundred highlanders were killed
In restoring my Charlie to me

My love was six foot two without stocking or shoe
In proportion my true love was built
Like I told you before upon Culloden Moor
Where the brave highland army was killed
Prince Charlie Stuart was my true love's name
He was the flower of England and a pride to his name
Ah but now they have banished him over to Spain
And so dear was my Charlie to me

(repeat last verse)