On Saturday I had watched the parade of soldiers before the re-enactment of the Battle of Prestonpans so decided to see the Prestonpans Tapestry on temporary exhibit at Cockenzie.  It is 40 metres longer than the famous Bayeux Tapestry and consists of 103 metre long panels illustrating the journey of ’Bonnie Prince Charlie’ in his fight to put his father on the British throne as the son of James 11 of England (James V11 of Scotland)   Because his father was a Catholic he was no longer considered to be suitable as king so after his two Protestant sisters became the rulers and died without heirs the throne passed to a German cousin George of Hanover. The tapestry ends at the Battle of Prestonpans
 Following the Battle where the Jacobites  defeated the Hanoverian army, Prince Charles ordered that there should be no public rejoicing of the victory.  Among the Government army 500 men were dead and over 1,000 men prisoners but less than a hundred Jacobites were dead or wounded.  However Charles was adamant that regardless of which side the soldiers had fought on they were all his father’s subjects so he sent his surgeons to attend all the wounded. 
This panel, with the extra, illustrate the help that the prince provided.  To me it seems that he was a compassionate person but his hope and ambition of victory never came to fruition and he left Scotland and became a sad broken man.