Clementina Sobieski

Clementina Sobieski
Spouse	James Francis Edward Stuart
Issue
Charles Edward Stuart Henry Benedict Stuart
Full name
Maria Klementyna Sobieska
House	House of Stuart House of Sobieski
Father	Jakub Ludwik Sobieski
Mother	Countess Palatine Hedwig Elisabeth Amelia of Neuburg
Born	18 July 1702 Oława, Lower Silesia
Died	18 January 1735 (aged 32) Rome

Maria Klementyna Sobieska (sometimes spelled: Maria Clementina Sobieski) (1702-1735) was a Polish princess who was born on 18 July 1702 in Poland, the daughter of Poland's Crown Prince Jakub Ludwik Sobieski, (1667-1737), and Hedwig Elisabeth Amelia of Neuburg, (1673-1722).

The granddaughter of John III Sobieski, she was one of Europe's wealthiest heiresses. Princess Maria Klementyna was betrothed to Prince James Stuart. King George I of Great Britain was opposed to the marriage because he feared that there would be an heir. In order to placate him, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI arrested Princess Maria Klementyna while on her way to Italy to marry James Stuart. She was confined in Innsbruck Castle but eventually the guards were deceived and Maria Klementyna escaped to Bologna, Italy, where, just to be safe from further intrusions, she was married by proxy to James who was in Spain at that time. Maria Klementyna's father, Prince James Louis Sobieski, approved her escape declaring that, as she became engaged to Prince James she ought to "follow his fortune and his cause".

Maria Klementyna and James Stuart were formally married on 3 September 1719 at Montefiascone, Italy in the Cathedral of Santa Margherita. Following their marriage, James and Maria Klementyna were invited to reside in Rome at the special request of Pope Clement XI, who acknowledged them as the (Catholic) King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

The Pope provided them with a papal guard of troops, gave them the Palazzo Muti in the Piazza dei Santi Apostoli in Rome to live in, plus a country villa at Albano. The Catholic Church also provided them with an annual allowance of 12,000 crowns out of the papal treasury. The Popes Clement XI and Innocent XIII considered James and Maria Klementyna to be the rightful and, more importantly, Catholic King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland: the cousin of Pope Innocent XIII, Francesco Maria Conti, from Siena, was here the Gentiluomo di Camera (the chamberlaine) in the little Roman Jacobite court.

Maria Klementyna and James Stuart had two sons:

• Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart (1720-1788), aka "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
• Henry Benedict Stuart (1725-1807), later known as the Cardinal Duke of York

The married life of James and Maria Klementyna proved turbulent and unhappy. Soon after their second child's birth, Maria Klementyna left him and went to live in Rome in the convent of St. Cecilia. She accused her husband of adultery and he said it was sinful to leave him and her children. It was more than two years before they reconciled. Maria Klementyna was prone to depression, spending much of her time praying^{[citation needed]}.

Maria Klementyna died at the early age of 32 on 18 January 1735. She was interred with full royal honors in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Pope Benedict XIV commissioned Pietro Bracchi (1700-1773) to sculpt a monument to her memory to be erected in the Basilica.

Gallery

Maria Klementyna by Pierre Imbert Drevet.

"Pompe funebre" for Maria Klementyna Sobieska at Rome.

Maria Klementyna Sobieska's Tomb by Bracchi in St Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Medal commemorating Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska from 1719

See also

• Media related to Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska at Wikimedia Commons