Person:Henry Stuart (12)

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York (6 March 1725 – 13 July 1807) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the thrones. After Charles's death in January 1788 the Papacy did not recognise Henry as the lawful ruler of Great Britain and Ireland, but referred to him as the Cardinal Duke of York.

He spent his life in the Papal States and had a long career in the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, rising to become the Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Velletri. At the time of his death he was (and still is) one of the longest-serving cardinals in the Church's history.

In his youth, Henry's father made him Duke of York (in the Jacobite Peerage), and it was by this title that he was best known. Upon the death of his brother in 1788, Henry became known by Jacobites as Henry IX, although publicly he referred to himself as Cardinal called Duke of York (to indicate that while he was called Duke of York, he actually held another title).

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Henry Benedict Stuart, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.