Peggy Miller

2264 A Wife for the Pretender, by Peggy Miller (read 20 Jan 1990) This is a 1965 book and deals with a fantastic event related to the Old Pretender, . He decided to marry Maria Clementina Sobieski--though he never met her till long after he was married to her by proxy. Charles Wogan was a young Irishman who scouted her, said she'd be a good Queen, and then she was captured by the Austrian Emperor as she was wending her way from Poland. (She was the granddaughter of John Sobieski, the hero of the Siege of Vienna in 1683.) Wogan led seven people to rescue her and take her to Italy where she married the Old Pretender. The story is exciting and unbelievable. 1719--conditions in that time are vividly portrayed in this excellent account. Unfortunately, she never became Queen of England. She died Jan 18, 1735, and is buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.… (altro)