Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 113. Flora MacDonald - The Girl Who Saved a Prince

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113. Flora MacDonald - The Girl Who Saved a Prince · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast. Hello delicious friends,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and welcome to Who Did What Now? The history podcast
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: That's Not Your History Class with mayor host Katie Charlwood,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: history harlote and reader of books. Speaking of books, Oh
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: my goodness, I was up until three o'clock in the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: morning last night, well morning night. I was up till
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: three just feverishly typing away a bit of certain French
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: lady from history. And I couldn't stop. I just was
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: so like engrossed in it that I just could not
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: stop pluckaty blacket on those keys, right. And so today
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I was so tired, I was so bloody chiled. And
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: it's also the reason that I didn't have any sold
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: last week. I was just exhausted from everything from research
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and deadlines and I'm trying to do my best to
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: get everything. But it's also the reason why I've sort
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of stayed sort of close to home this summer while
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I'm not really doing too many gigs out and about,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: but I am just so you know, doing a local gig,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and because I've i people asking when you're gonna come
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: down home into a show, when you're gonna do something,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and Doney Gall and well delicious threatens. I'm coming to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Letter Kenny, which is like the biggest town in the county.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: So yeah, in Letter Kenny in Burrito Local, we're doing
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: it after hours. Ooh, it's cool now, not that Brito
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Local isn't cool. They do the best, like spicy chicken,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Like do they do this chicken? It is so good
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and they do this little seasoning on the fries like
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I swear, it's so ah. You know, I have to
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: go get more. Actually I'm going to go have more
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: soon because it's so nice. But yeah, I'm doing a
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: show there on August sixteenth. It's a Friday, and it's
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the doors open half nine and then the showill probably
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: start like fifteen twenty minutes after that, you know, nothing
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  Speaker 1: too bad. And I have a special guest host, the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: creator of manny Man and many Man's History of Ireland,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: mister John D. Ruddy. And oh my god, I was
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: looking at the poster that I made because I was like,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: send me a promo shot, and so he does, and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh, I've got this picture that's going to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: work really well with it. And I put it together
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and I put it up and as I look at it.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I'm like, something's weird about this? What is it? What
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: is it that's caught my attention? Right? And I look
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: at it, And the more I look at it, I'm like, oh,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: oh no, we look like a magician and his assistant.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: What are you gonna do? Now, I'm gonna pull a hat.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know this rabbit. Wait now, So if you
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: are near donegall, if you're like in dairy or Sliego
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: or leetrum or I don't know any of the other
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: places that are nearby, come and see me perform. It's
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: gonna be fun. That's gonna be like some giveaways at it,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: because I always like to do like wee freebies there.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You may you may be quizzed. You may be quizzed.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And the people who give me the best answers, well
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: when either that or will play Bengal. It'll be fun.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: We'll figure it out. And I like to just have
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: a bit of fun and give some stuff away. And
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: that's just who I am as a person. But it's
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: gonna be a good time full of history and uh
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and and I'll try not to make you cry, which
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: is a really good selling point. I should put that
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: on the post tries not to make cry, but in
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: a way I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, quit
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  Speaker 1: your job, ol job ol Katie and fact me and
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  Speaker 1: fact you. I will, But first we've got to get
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: our source on. Our sources are Flora MacDonald, The Jack
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: About Heroine in Scotland and North America by Rory McLeod,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: The Highland Scots of North Carolina by Dwayne Mayer, Flora
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: MacDonald in History by Dorothy McKay quinn, Flora MacDonald, The
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Most Loyal Rebel by Hugh Douglas, The Brave Sons of
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Sky by John mccowns, and Pretty Young Rebel The Life
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: of Flora MacDonald by Flora Frasier. And of course, of
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: course we have our old friends Biography dot com and
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  Speaker 1: History dot com iosidin comfortably good. Then let's begin. Flora
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  Speaker 1: MacDonald was born in seventeen twenty two in Milton, on
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. See,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I really want to say wished, like it makes me
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: want to say wished, but it's uished, apparently uist uished.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm saying it wrong about how I
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: would do it. It's Gallic. You know, it's Scott's Gallic. And
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the pronunciation would be different from me anyway, because I
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: would know more sort of like Gaelica, which is Irish,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: so that the language is a way a bit different
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: from me. But I'm sure I won't completely screw it
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: up too much. So Flora is the only daughter and
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: last child of and I shit you not, Ranald McDonald,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Ranald McDonald and his second wife Marion. So she's got
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: two older brothers, Angus and Ronald. Ranald decided to name
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: one of his sons Ronald Ronald McDonald. Okay, no, move on,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it's fine. Angus goes on when helped the Milton attack
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and Ronald, Oh, that's actually quite sad. He dies young, unfortunately,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: big Ranald. Right, he dies when Flora is like a baby,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: like a year old, leaving behind a widow and two
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: young kids. Now, when Flora is about six years old,
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  Speaker 1: her mum Rey marries here McDonald, a landowner from the
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  Speaker 1: Isle of Sky. Now this is like a cousin of Ranald.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Like plays, I've said it before and I've said it again.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Don't let your family tree be wreath. Okay, don't do it. Okay, cool,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: So most of the hebrides, they stay Catholic, but because
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: of her being more Southern, Flora is raised Protestant. So
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: like this is the post is supposed to like covents.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You know when King Charles the First was being an
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: absolute dick so effectively he's like, you'll have to bow
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to me. I'm the head of the church. Yeah, yeah,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: ye at that, And a lot of Scottish Presbyterians where that. No,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: we want to be able to worship God her own
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: like also Christian way, and yeah it basically it's a
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: big shit show. Really, it causes chaos and a bunch
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of people are murdered. Yeah, okay, so Flora she gets
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: like a little bit of an education. She has basic
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: schooling in Edinburgh for like a wee time. But yeah,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: when her mom remarries, it wasn't it wasn't so much
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: a love match. No, see you basically starts showing up
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: after Ranald McDonald dies. May or may not. It's a
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: bit hazy. He may or may not have kidnapped Marian
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: in order to marry her. Now, I know this is
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: how a lot of your enemies to love us romances go,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: But in real life, I feel like this is like
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: a hard pass like Red Flag. Let's not so. Flora
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: doesn't live there at that point, and she doesn't live
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: with Marian like. She's brought up in the household of
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: her dad's cousin, Alexander McDonald. God, there's so many there's
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: so many of them. So Alexander is chief of the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: clan McDonald of Sleet and he's kind of a big deal.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So growing up in this environment, she becomes close to Margaret,
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  Speaker 1: who's Alexander's wife, and they become pals when she's in
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: her teens. This will become important later. So by the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: time she's in her early to mid twenties, she is
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  Speaker 1: betrothed to one Alan McDonald. I don't know if they're related.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of them. Okay, they've all got the name,
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  Speaker 1: but they might not necessarily be related as far as
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I know. Maybe it's complicated. It's a common sun name
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: in clans, may not be technically blood related, or it
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: might be very distant. But it's fine, it's fine. I'm
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: sure it's fine. So Alan, like her stepfather were members
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: of the Hanoverian Army, which is a really nice way
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of saying British Army of King George the Second, who,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: if you know your George is was the hands someone.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: So you've got George the first, who's like, well, he's
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: very German and also a bit of a dick, and yeah,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: then you've got George the second, who is smoking hot.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Then you've got George the third, who went mad, and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: George the fourth, who everyone knows is like a bit
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: chubby and defeated Napoleon. Like that's it. Yes, this information
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: comes from the horrible histories George, George, George and George Song.
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  Speaker 1: So you're welcome. So George George the second, he wasn't
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: having a good time of it with the jack Abite
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: uprising and all. See because Charles Edward Stewart or Bonnie
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Prince Charlie, otherwise known as the Young Pretender because his
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: dad was known as the like old Pretender. It's fine,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: so I can't believe he's not the ruler anyway, he
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: was the Stewart claimant to the British throne. Effectively, he
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: was a direct descendant from King James the seventh and second,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: who is actually not the worst games. Yeah there's a few.
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  Speaker 1: So he is born in exile in the Stuart Court
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  Speaker 1: in Italy. Now at this point rulers or you know, kings,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: they were expected to reign and rule, so you weren't
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: just supposed to be a king stamping things. You were
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: supposed to like govern your nation. So he works with
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a French who honestly just loved any excuse to fuck
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: with England. And their plan is to show up with
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  Speaker 1: a fuck ton of soldiers and just walk into London.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: That's their plan. But like the Spanish are mad Well
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and my hair, they are hampered by the weather and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: also the British fleet. Take from that what you will.
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  Speaker 1: So he ends up with only a handful of men
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  Speaker 1: and in the end ends up on the west coast
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  Speaker 1: of Riscai. So he lands there thinking the Jacobites are
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: going to be all over him. No, no, see Hill's
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  Speaker 1: the thing. He shows up and it's basically seen as
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  Speaker 1: this failed promise, like he doesn't have the French fleet
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: that he was supposed to bring and like, the Jacobites
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: straight up tell him to go home, and in what
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I assume was a totally not at all prepared response,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: he retorts, I am come home. Might want to work
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: on your grammar, they'll try, but it's fine. So yeah.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: They literally tell him to go back to France because
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: they are so unimpressed with him. But Charlie is undeterred
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: by this, incredibly chilli welcome in July, and so he
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: sails to knock none V, which I bet I've burgered
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: up the name of that as well. I bet you have. Anyway,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: he's opened. The French arrive, they don't, so he decides
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  Speaker 1: to raise a Scottish army instead. He gets people to
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: rally behind him because they are honor bound. Now, this
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: is something a lot of people struggle with nowadays when
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: they think to this time and history, and for a
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: lot of history actually is the concept of honor. So
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to talk about Outlander anti So in Outlander,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: if you've seen it, if you haven't spoilers, the main guy,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: who I think was handsome at one point, I don't know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: he cut his hair and he's or he had little ponytailing,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: is now less handsome. AnyWho, Jamie, that's it, Jimie, that's
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: my clear impression. You're welcome. Jamie has to go fight
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: in the Battle of Claudin spoiler alert. It doesn't go well,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: so he is honor bound to like fighting this even
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: though he knows he is going to personally lose and
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: that he's probably going to die. And Claire's like, why
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: are you going to do this? And he's like, because
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of honor, because I said I would. So your honor,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: like your word is your bond, you know, and if
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: you're broken oath, you would be like named in shamed
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and your clan, your entire clan, would be shamed by association,
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  Speaker 1: like you would be sleeky and untrustworthy, and your entire
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: reputation you're standing would be gone, like you would be
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: a worthless dirt human effectively, like you would not be
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: anything if you violated sort of honor. So yeah, because
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: people had said that we were going to support you,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: He's like you did promise though, and they're like, ash shit, Yeah,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I guess I'm gonna have to do it now. So
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: in the Jacobite Rising of seventeen forty five, there was
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: a good chunk of victories. You had Edinburgh and Falkirk,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: so you had the East coast and the West coast,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: a little bit of geography of people who don't know Scotland.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: So Bonnie Prince Charlie, he could have been solid there
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: just just solidly just chosen to hold Scotland. But he
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: is an idiot, I said.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: He's just he's just full of vigor, you know, he's
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: just hungry for it, and he is vying for both
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: crowns because he's not content with just having the Scottish one,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: even though that's the only one he's supposed to have.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And so he could have held it, he had these
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: strong footholds, but instead the thing I spoiled for you,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: The seventeen forty six Battle of Claudon is a horrifying defeat.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Charles has to be dragged from the battle and get
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the heck at a dodge, like they have to physically
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: like grip him and drag him through the mud, you know,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: which is just sodden with blood. You know, now that
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: you've got some context, back to Flora. So she is
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: on a way trip to Bimbenkula, which was run by
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: her stepfather's militia convenient her brother lived there, and she
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: was just spending some time just you know, hanging about
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: living her best life. And when she's there, a cousin
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: from County Antrim in Ireland, Con O'Neill, shows up at
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Ankus's house, and asks for help, after which a bunch
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: of dudes show up at the house after midnight and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: they ask her like have you had the pleasure of
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: meeting the Prince? And Flora response, I have not had
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the pleasure of meeting the Prince, nor do I desire
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that pleasure, now completely undertered by her absolutely stating no.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: They tell her of the plan, and they ask her
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: for help, and sort of they ask her again, and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: then they ask her again and she's like, fuck this
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: burgey soldiers, absolutely fucking not Nope, But they keep badgering
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: her and asking her, and then one person asks, and
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: then another person asks, until eventually the Prince actually asks himself.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: He's like, I go on, and she's like fine. So
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Flora uses her connections, effectively her stepfather to acquire papers.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So she gets the permits and passes to the mainland
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: for herself and a group of eight people, including her
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Irish spinning maid Betty Burke, who sounds like she was
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: invented by Stanley. Oh, who's this, Peter Parker sou storm
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Betty Burke the Irish made I'm assuming that is the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: voice of Betty Burke, because Betty Burke is none other
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: than Charles Edward Stuart. He is all bundled up in
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: these like shawls and is we guna and and he
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: just like to dress up. I feel like any excuse.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: So like actually, when he arrives in Scotland, he's originally
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: in disguise as a student clerk, like he's got this
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: beard and everything, like yeah, yeah, so he's five ft eleven,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: he's relatively study like he he has fought in battles,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: he is trained for this, and he is walking about
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: with all of these wee shawls on him like hunched over,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: like did lady, why are you more Irish? How you'm
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: a spinning maid named Bitty Burke? Like that's a deliberately
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: bad Irish accent. I don't actually do Irish accents because
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you'd think living in this country long enough I could
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: do them. I can only do a Doneygalla accent, and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: m I'd get in trouble for that one. But yeah,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: when they land in Comure near Sir Alexander McDonald's house,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Lady Margaret takes one look at Charles and his way
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: outfit and she's just like, what is this also? Sidebar?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: If I had a nickel for every time a Scottish
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: woman dressed a man up in drag to escape the English.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: is weird that it happened twice. Anyway, Lady Margaret, she
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: takes one look at him and she's like, you need
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: to get rid of this. This is so like conspicuous,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: like you would have been better walking around in a crown,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Like this is dodgy, like people are going to know
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: that you're not a wee old lady called Betty Bark.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Put on some regular clothes and don't put on the wig.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: The wig is too much Like I understand your committed
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: to the bit, Charles, but can you not.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: So?
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Lady Margaret then arranges like lodgings with her steward for
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the night. She's like, go stay with him. And the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: next day the Prince left for or say, while Flora
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: stayed in sky and this is the last time they
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: ever meet. Now. This is also where that song in
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the beginning of Outlander comes from, DESI is a sky like.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It's all based on this one interaction where she basically
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: saves him. Anyway, news breaks that Bonnie Prince Charlie has
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: fled and the boatsmen involved are detained and they confess
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: under duress, so you ever tortured. They're tortured and they
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: confess of all the stuff they did, and they start
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: like putting fingers in name and names, and so Flora
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: is arrested and taken to the Tower of London and
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: she is being charged with treason. Now I don't know
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: if you know what the punishment for treason is death.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: It's death. But lady Margaret steps in on Floora's behalf
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and basically saves her ass. So she goes in and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: she's like, she is just a silly little girl. How
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: would she know what to do? You think this weak,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: fragile lady was able to be involved in this anyway,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Flora is allowed to live outside the tower for a
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: bit of a time. So she's in the tower for
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: a bit, you know, as one is, and then she
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: gets to love outside the tower under supervision of the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: King's messenger, which is like she's kind of arrested, so
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: it's like house arrest, except she gets to walk around
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the gardens like a dog who needs to pee outside. Yeah,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: so she's like kind of you know, I mean, it's
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: not freedom, but it's also not stuck in a jail
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: cell or dead, which is definitely a step up. And
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: she's there until seventeen forty seven when she is released
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: from prison quote unquote after the Act of Indemnity. So
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: after Clauding and the uprising and everything else, a bunch
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: of people were executed, which should surprise absolutely no one,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and Parliament passes the Indemnity Act of seventeen forty seven,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: which protects soldiers from, you know, stuff they did during war.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: So Flora, because she is a person or rebel or whatever,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: because she did stuff, she's basically giving away, slap on
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the rest and sent free. Now a bunch of aristocrats
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: like they collect money for her because they're like, you
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: have been in jail, you need to be able to
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: treat yourself. You need some money. And they collect over
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: one five hundred pounds for her, which in today's money
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: is over three hundred grand. And of all the people
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: that started putting money in the pot, one of them
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: was Frederick, the Prince of Wales. So yeah, George's son.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: So the reason he does it right is because when
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: he's chatting her, because she is like around and he's like,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: why did you do it? And she goes, I did
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: it out of charity and that she would have done
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the very same thing for him if he had needed it,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: and so he's like, wow, she's so lovely. Let's give
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: us some money, which you know, when you've got the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Prince of Wales on your side, you'll do it all right.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Not being said, I think it's about time for a
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: word from our sponsors and we are back. So post Clowden,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: shit is bad. You know, Tartan is banned, like they
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: are hunting people down. It is a rampage like you
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: have the British Army like going through Scotland just hunting
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Highlanders like they are. They're looking for rebels. They they're
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: sort of killing indiscriminately because they can, because their whole
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: thing is like, oh well we thought they were a rebel.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Oh we're gonna do this, and it's just it's bad, lads,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: it is bad, and it's really Yeah, it's not a
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: good time to be a Highlander in the Highlands. That
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: being said Flora, who is now a free women, she
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: gets married at the age of twenty eight, so you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: know she's pushing on a bit to Alan McDonald. You know,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Harbert Troth do you remember him, yeah, way back. Yeah.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: So they get married in seventeen fifty and they live
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: in Floda, Gary in Sky and they have a couple
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of kids, a good chunk of them, as one does
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: in the past. You just keep popping them out lot puppies,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and they've got a good few. And shit is going
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: down around them. But luckily for them, the Seven Years
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: War is happening, and Alan is serving in the one
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: hundred and fourteenth and sixty second Regiment on foot so
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: and he has, you know, fairly steady work because you know,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: war pretty good for being a soldier. And so from
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: seventeen fifty six and seventeen sixty three he's got a
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: steady income. Don't know if he's got you know, a
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: conscience or some honor, but he's definitely got an income. Anyway.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: They end up having seven kids together altogether. Actually I
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: think it's seven, and two other kids married her half
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: sisters kids. So remember when Marion married the other McDonald
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah here and they had kids. Well they mm they
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: married their half cousins. What have I said about your family?
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Do not be in a wreath? What do we say? No,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I'm looking back at you, back in time. And I
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: am shaking my finger mm hmmm in a disappointed fashion.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: So Flora and Allen they have a decent marriage, They live,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: they have kids, They farm for like fifteen years, which
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: is fair, you know, it's kind of uneventful considering, you know,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: how their relationship started, because like in the middle of it,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: she ends up in prison in the Tower of London,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you know, which is something, you know, treason against the
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: very king that yourself could cause a bit of a
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: rift in a relationship, perhaps one could argue, you know,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: you know, like sometimes you have different beliefs and you'd
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: think that would separate you. But apparently these two are fine.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Good for them, I guess. And I still can't get
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: somebody to send me a good morning text. I'm just saying,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: like the bar, where is the bar? Anyway, we're tripping
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: up in it. So anyway, they've got a fair enough life.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: And in seventeen seventy two they inherit Kingsborough and it
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: doesn't go well. It doesn't go well for them, so
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: they have shitty harvests one after the other, and then
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the taxes get higher and higher. So here's the thing.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: When there's less people, when you like kill a bunch
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: of I don't know, citizens of your nation, and you
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: get rid of like a chunk of the workforce and
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: people who can you know, pay money towards governments and
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: rulings and whatnot. Yeah, when you get rid of all those,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: you fail to have considered that dead people are notoriously
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: difficult to tax, meaning that the people that are left
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: will have to pay more tax and they are not
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: going to be happy about it. So they are just
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: not happy where they are, as one can imagine, and
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: they decide to move to North Carolina to see. Over
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the years, Highlanders emigrated, you know, some because they were
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: being muddeled, and others because you know, money and food
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: does seem like a good option. And by seventeen seventy three,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: between like eight hundred to nine hundred people were like
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: getting ready to emigrate en mass from Sleeate Island alone
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: to the new Ish World, the Americas, North America to
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: be exact, a lot of them going to North Carolina
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: specific And in seventeen seventy four Flora and Alan MacDonald
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: join them in Anson County and they settle in the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Killer Gray plantation. Sound familiar to anybody. Historical fiction sometimes
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: you'll learn historical fact. Sometimes you won't, though sometimes it's
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: all just heaving bosoms and feted brows. So they were
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: not the first to go to North Carolina, obviously, because
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: there's a bunch of them there. And in seventeen thirty nine,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the Royal Governor of North Carolina he was Scottish, and
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: when he goes there, he offered a ten year tax
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: exemption for any Highlanders that colonized. I mean, whoops, whoops,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: what did I say? I meant any any Highlanders who
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: chose to move there decimate the indigenous population. I'm sorry,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: what was that? No, no, no, anyway, So at that point,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty Scots settled there, and post Claudon
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: well More moved. Ah. Yeah, Because here's the thing. When
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: you move somewhere, especially if you're moving too a country
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: that you don't know, especially in this kind of early development,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: although you see it now even in sort of modern times,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: like you're going to move to where the other people
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: who are like you are. So that's where like in
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: sort of New York you would have like Soho and
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you would have like little Italy because people would move by.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Boston exists. It's just full of the Irish. It's like
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: you would move to where like the other people who
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: were like you lived, who shared your culture, your religion,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: you know your language, because you want some safety and
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: security and comfort when you're in this brave new world,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: isn't it. So? Over the years, more and more Scots
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: move over and yeah, seventeen seventy four, the McDonald's moved,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: flash settled, flash colonized whatever to North Carolina on the
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: eve of the American War of Independence. Bad timing, yeah,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: bad timing. So they were welcomed with open arms to
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: the colony, and mainly because they had heard the tale
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: of Flora and Bonnie Prince Charlie. However, these are all
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: loyalists still Alan MacDonald, he still gets a commission from
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: the Crown. He's a kingsman. So in seventeen seven five,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: when the American Revolutionary War begins and the Royal Governor
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: of North Carolina asked hilanders to join the loyalist cause,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Alan does. Alan MacDonald raises the ants and battalion of
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the Loyalist North Carolina Militia. He gathers one thousand men,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: including his and Flora's sons, Alexander and James, and so
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: they meet up with like these two thousand British troops.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: So there's three thousand of them, which is a hefty number,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: but they still lose the Battle of Moore's quak Bridge,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: and Alan is taken prisoner, like, I mean, which is
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: weird because he kind of had to, but like not
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: like he's he didn't. He didn't. It's a whole thing.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: It's just a whole thing. So like he could have
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: just chosen not to set up an army, Like he
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: could have just chosen not to create a militia. He
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: could have just not done that. He could have just
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: farmed or some shit, like there was no need for this,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: and he ends up being taken prisoner dude. AnyWho. After
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the battle, Flora is interrogated by the local Committee of Safety,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: like they are not keen on which side her bread
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: is bottled on, and they're convinced like they are anti
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Scottish because you know, her husband is a Kingsman. Situation. Yeah. Yeah,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: So when seventeen seventy seven, all Loyalists owned land was
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: seized by the Patriots and Flora and her family were
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: evicted from a color gray. So Flora is like forced
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: into hiding and she has to leave everything behind, like everything,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: And after eighteen months of Alan being kept prisoner, Flora
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: is finally reunited with her husband, like there was a
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: prisoner exchange. And Alan ends up being posted to Fort Edward,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Nova Scotia and becomes a commander of the eighty fourth
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Regiment on Foot. So he's stationed up in Nova Scotia
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: and Flora joins him there in seventeen seventy eight. But
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: like it's not just them, like a chunk of loyalist
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Scott's end up in Nova Scotia and Barbados. Now here's
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: the thing, Like, if you have the option of going
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: to Nova Scotia or Barbados, I feel like one of
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: those options is definitely better than the other, you know.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: So when another year passes, Flora's daughter is heading back
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: home and in Halifax winters not being the most pleasant.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: They've been harsh, you know, like criticism from my mother.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. It's also cutting. I'm sorry,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: she's gonna kill me when she listens to this. So
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: her daughter is heading back and Flora decides to join her,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: and Alan stays behind because he's finishing his commission with
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: the plans to join them in a few years because
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: he's going to like earn his keep, earn his money,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: and then return home. Like that's the plan. So Flora
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: and her daughter, they're on this transatlantic sailing, So they
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: cross the Atlantic Ocean and it stops off in England
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: and then goes to Scotland. That's the root it takes.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: And they've done more, which is the ship they're on,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Like Flora, Flora just keeps being in the wrong place
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: at the wrong time, Like the woman cannot catch a
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: break because as you know, it's crossing the Atlantic. The
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: ship is attacked by pirates, not just any pirates, French pirates, privateers, buccaneers.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know the French for buccaneers, but I'm going
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: to do this excellent anyway. Oh so there's a scuffle involved,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: and so when the pirates are like trying to take
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: over the ship or trying to loot it, Flora ends
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: up breaking her arm in the situation. And so because
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: it happens, like she has to rest and she has
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to heal. So she ends up stopping off in England,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: staying there for a bit to rest before finally getting
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: back to Scotland in seventeen eighty and when she gets there,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: she has to rely on relations to stay with, you know,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: because she's got no income of her own, her husband's way,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: and she's basically, you know, up and around staying my family. Meanwhile,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: Alan MacDonald is sorting out the compensation for the land
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: lost in North Carolina, because the Crown is like paying
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: people back for the land they lost, and to be honest,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: it's not much and it's not enough cash for them
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: to be able to settle in Nova Scotia, and so
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Alan returns to the Isle of Sky and the couple
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: are reunited at last in seventeen eighty four. Now they
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: can't go back to Kingsborough because it's currently occupied by
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Flora's half sister and her half sister's husband, So you know,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: he's lost his ancestral home to her family. Yeah, it's
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: it's a whole thing, it really is. So it's at
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: this point where Alan decides he's going to become a
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: tenant farmer, which honestly not the worst idea he's had
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: in his life, but certainly not the best idea he's
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: had in his life. And so he and Flora tenant farming.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: That's that's what they're at in their later years. But
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: they do live together for the rest of their lives
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: on the Isle of Sky. Eventually, though, oh she does
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: move back into Kingsborough House like with her family because
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: she's she's getting on a bit. And it's there on
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: the fifth of March venteen ninety that Flora MacDonald passes
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: away at the age of sixty eight from natural causes
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: at least. Flora is then buried in Comure on Sky,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: but instead of like a traditional like funeral shroud, she
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: is wrapped in a sheet that Bonnie Prince Charlie once
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: used or slept in. I feel like it's meant to
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: be more poetic, you know, But yeah, it's it's it's
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: it is a thing. But yeah, she's buried and her
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: legend lives on. There are countless fictions like told about
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: her life. She's been in stories and songs and probably
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: a little bit of folklore too. But yeah, so ends
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: the story of Flora MacDonald, the young woman who saved
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Bonnie Prince Charlie. And if you like today story you
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: feel for you're to rate and review of five stars.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: That'd be amazing. If you aren't doneygall or Donny gll
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: jacent come see my show next month. You should, You
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: absolutely should. And what else did I want to say
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: to you? Oh, recommendation time, of course. Ah. For reading,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to recommend doctor Is Made James' book Kinky History. Ah.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: I've finally got my copy. I'm really excited, and you
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: should read it. It's really good, it's amazing. I love it.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: It's me and I'm so happy to finally have a
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: copy of her book. You have no idea for listening.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: You should listen to For the Love of History podcast
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: with TK. She's so delightful and the way she tells history,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: I love it. It's so like fun but also weirdly soothing,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: like I'm a lover the pieces. And for watching anything
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: but Outlander, adds anything but Outlander. As you know what,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: for absolutely no reason whatsoever, you should watch Basil the
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Great Mouse Detective. You're welcome, and with that I shall
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: bid you good night. Adios au revoirs of Where Is Them?
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: My friends, Bye bye.