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I was born about 1720, in South Uist, one of the most remote islands of the Hebrides.
I am surely one of Scotland's most enduring and romantic heroines. By helping Bonnie Prince Charlie "Over the Sea to Skye", I rowed the "Young Pretender" to safety and myself into the history books.
I was born in the Western Isle village of Milton, South Uist, but moved to Skye on the death of my father and my mother's re-marriage to Hugh MacDonald of Sleat. I was sent to school in Edinburgh and returned to Uist in 1746 to visit my brother. It proved to be a dangerous and exciting summer.
Bonnie Prince Charlie had been on the run since the defeat of the Jacobite uprising at Culloden. He zigzagged the Highlands with a bounty of £30,000 on his head – an enormous sum at the time - trying to outrun his pursuers and escape back to France. As he landed on Uist he heard that General Campbell had caught his scent and was on the island searching for him. The prince needed to leave quickly if he were to survive. A plan was formed to help him escape east to the Isle of Skye. The person chosen to help carry out the plan was I.
I refused to help initially, and only changed my mind when both my fiancé Allan MacDonald and my stepfather convinced me to help. I agreed, and on 20 June the young prince and I met for the first time.
We remained in hiding as we planned the escape. The prince was to be smuggled off the island in colourful fashion - disguised as "Betty Burke", my Irish serving-maid. Myself, "Betty" and her "Servant" Neil MacEachain were to cross the approximate 45 miles by sea to Skye in a rowing boat. We had to do this under the watchful eyes of the Hanoverian soldiers and the probing of bounty hunters eager for the prince’s capture.
We left shore on 27 June without attracting attention. As we made for open water we were buffeted and thrown by high winds and tempestuous seas. We battled for days until catching sight of the isle, where we landed between the west-coast towns of Uig and Mogstad at a point now known as Rudha Phrionnsa (Prince's Point). Once safe we hid overnight in a cottage and then slowly, and in secret, travelled overland to Portree on the opposite side of the isle.
When we reached Portree, the prince and I had to part. Bonnie Prince Charlie continued on to Raasay, a narrow island between Skye and the mainland, where a ship was waiting to take him to France. I returned home. As they left, the prince gave me a locket with his portrait, and he was believed to have said, "I hope, madam, that we may meet in St James's yet." I never saw him again.
The loose tongue of the ferryman brought the tale to the ears of the prince's enemies and I was arrested as a traitor. I was imprisoned first in Dunstaffnage Castle, near Oban, and then briefly in the Tower of London before being released in 1747 under a general amnesty.
I married Allan MacDonald in 1750 and 24 years later we emigrated to North Carolina. My husband fought with the Hanoverians in the American War of Independence and initially lived a reasonably prosperous life. However, after my husband's capture, we were expelled to Nova Scotia with little belongings and no real prospects.
I returned home to Skye with my family, and my husband joined us on his release. I was living in Kingsburgh when literary great Samuel Johnson met me during his tour of the Highlands and Islands. He said of me that I "will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour."
I died on 4 March, 1790 in the same bed in which Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept. My death was deeply mourned and many people turned out for the funeral. I was buried at Kilmuir, near the isle's north-west coast, with a sheet used by the prince wrapped round me for a shroud.
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South Uist Loch