This thesis examines the consequences and implications of the premature deaths of
royal heirs in seventeenth-century Britain. In just four generations between 1603 and 1700
the Stuart dynasty suffered the loss of over twenty-five legitimate offspring before their
twenty-first year. Several of these deaths had significant political repercussions, threatening
both the continuity of the royal line and consequently the security of the nation. The cultural
memory of these lost heirs continued decades and even centuries later. My work seeks to
establish the historical significance of their long-lasting appeal by assessing their princely
representation in life and analysing its development after death.
This study is firmly located within visual culture. However, definitions and
classifications of the “visual” are necessarily broad. The emphasis is upon the consideration
of seventeenth-century British art as part of a wider cultural process. The opening chapter
addresses an apparently obvious, though somewhat neglected, issue - the critical importance
of royal heirs. Through examination of the imagery and ceremonial attached to Stuart
childbearing and christenings, it asserts the real symbolic significance of princely progeny.
Chapter Two develops the study of youthful princely representation. It assesses the portrayal
of Stuart heirs as they matured and seeks to identify the principal characteristics. Specifically,
it is argued that, from a young age, the projection of Protestantism and martial aptitude was
crucial to the formation of their personae. Chapter Three analyses how deceased Stuart heirs
were commemorated in the months and years immediately after their deaths. It is contended
that the enduring memory of these princes was the result, not of official commemoration, but
of the large-scale public response to their deaths. The loss of an heir not only threatened the
future of the dynasty but also the stability of the realm. The fourth chapter explores how,
through visual and cultural propaganda, the surviving Stuarts attempted to re-group and to
assuage social and political anxieties. Chapters Five and Six assess the long-term legacy of
these princes in the decades and centuries after their deaths, as well as the political
circumstances which gave rise to their enduring memory. These concluding chapters reveal
the extent to which memories of deceased Stuart princes lingered, asserting that their
representations were often employed for negotiation of the issues and anxieties of later ages.
Throughout, my work seeks to establish the importance of these lost heirs and
protectors of the Stuart Protestant line. I have endeavoured to retrieve the reputations of
princes who came to represent potent symbols of both promise and loss