Stuart

a royal family of Scotland and England. Walter, said to have been a young member of a Norman family that came over to England with William the Conqueror, entered the service of David I of Scotland and received large estates and the office of steward of Scotland. Walter died in 1117. The office of steward became hereditary in his family. Father and son for seven generations were stewards. The title was adopted as the family name. Later the spelling was changed to Stuart to give it a French appearance. The fifth Steward was one of six regents. The sixth Steward married Marjorie, the daughter of Robert Bruce. Robert, a son of this marriage, was also a regent, and in 1371, on the death of his uncle, became king Robert II of Scotland. Successive Stuart rulers of Scotland, beginning with this Robert II, were Robert III, James I, II, III, IV, V, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and James VI, who became James I of England. The line continued through Charles I, Charles II, James II, Mary, and Anne. A son of James II, James Edward, and a grandson, Charles Edward, who resided abroad in France and at Rome, made efforts to recover the throne and are known as the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender respectively. Henry, a brother of the Young Pretender, became a cardinal in the Catholic church. After Charles Edward's death the cardinal assumed the title of Henry IX of England and Scotland. In his old age and pitiful poverty, a pension of $20,000 was settled on him by George III. He died in 1807, the last male descendent of the once powerful Stuart family. Through a female member of the family, the Stuarts are still represented among ruling families by the House of Savoy, now the reigning family in Italy. See James; Charles; Culloden; McDONALD.