Avalon said:
I haven't heard of any affairs or illegitimate children of King James II.
James Stuart (the Old Pretender or "James III") was the son of King James II and his second Catholics wife, Mary of Modena (he was raised in the French Court in Catholic religion). He was legitimate and recognized King of England by Jacobites (and King Louis XIV).
He married Maria Clementina Sobieska (granddaughter of Polish King John III, if I am not mistaken) and had 2 children, Charles (the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charles) and Henry.
Oh yeah you're right! He tried unsuccessfully to raise an army but Bonnie Prince Charley had much more success in doing so.
According to Wikipedia, Bonnie Prince Charley's wife, Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, had an affair during their marriage. She cheated with Count Vittorio Alfieri. Louise and Vittorio apparently had issue and in the 19th century, two of their descendents claimed that their ancestors were actually
Charles and Louise, but their claims were proved false (I wonder how in the 19th century, long, long before a DNA test was possible)
and it is said that Charles and Louise did not have any children.
the reasons that Louise said she left Charles was because he had an affair with Clementina Walkinshaw and he was, she claimed, physically abusive.
He had a daughter with Clementina, named Charlotte.
Louise left him in 1780, and it says that he legitimized Charlotte in 1783 by signing an "act of legitimation" (but where was this recognized as valid legislation? Legislation has to be an act of a legislative body, like parliament, no? What parliament was passing laws concerning a pretender succession?) This "law" apparently had no recognition anywhere, because Charlotte never took her father's pretender title. She died as Charlotte, pretender Duchess of Albany (her father "granted" her this title under the pretense that he could do so) and the mother of three illegitimate children (she never married). The father of these children was Prince Ferdinand de Rohan.
Here are the source links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edward_Stuart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte%2C_Duchess_of_Albany
According to Wikipedia, James II had
seven illegitimate children all during his two marriages. He had these children with two different mistresses: Arabella Churchill and Catherine Sedley.
The whole information is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England#Style_and_arms