LA CLOCHE, JAMES DE ["Prince James Stuart") (1644?-1669), a character who was brought into the history of England by Lord Acton in 1862 (Home and Foreign Review, i. 146-174: "The Secret History of Charles II."). From informa tion discovered by Father Boero in the archives of the Jesuits in Rome, Lord Acton averred that Charles II., when a lad at Jersey, had a natural son, James. The evidence follows. On April 2, 1668, as the register of the Jesuit House of Novices at Rome attests, "there entered Jacobus de la Cloche." His baggage was exiguous, his attire was clerical. He is described as "from the island of Jersey, under the king of England, aged 24." He bore certain letters purporting to have been written by Charles II., the most important being a letter of recommendation (Aug. 13, 1667) to Oliva, general of the Jesuit order. The truth is that all Charles's letters are forgeries. This is certain because in all he writes frequently as if his mother, Henrietta Maria, were in London, and constantly in company with him. Now she had left England for France in 1665, and to England she never returned. As the letters—including that to "Prince Stuart"—are all forged, it is clear that de la Cloche was an impostor. His aim had been to get money from Oliva, and to pretend to travel to England, meaning to enjoy himself. He did not quite succeed, for Oliva sent a socius with him into France.
The name of James de la Cloche appears no more in documents. He reached Rome in Dec. 1668, and in January a person calling himself "Prince James Stuart" appears in Naples, accompanied by a socius styling himself a French knight of Malta. Both are on their way to England, but Prince James falls ill and stays in Naples, while his companion departs. The knight of Malta may be a Jesuit. In Naples, Prince James marries a girl of no posi tion, and is arrested on suspicion of being a coiner. To his con fessors (he had two in succession) he says that he is a son of Charles II. Our sources are the despatches of Kent, the English agent at Naples, and the Lettere, vol. iii., of Vincenzo Armanni (1674), who had his information from one of the confessors of the "Prince." The viceroy of Naples communicated with Charles II., who disowned the impostor; Prince James, however, was released, and died at Naples in August 1669, leaving a wild will, in which he claims for his son, still unborn, the "apanage" of Monmouth or Wales, "which it is usual to bestow on natural sons of the king." The son lived till about 175o, a penniless pre tender, and writer of begging letters.