In addition to the help given to Aquhorties mentioned in the last post, the government also gave pensions to French bishops and priests who had managed to escape “The Terror” in France, and had sought refuge in the South of England, while at the same time the laws forbidding priests to be in the country at all had not been repealed in Scotland. Another recipient of a government pension, of £4,000 annually, was Henry Benedict, Cardinal Duke of York, brother of Bonnie Prince Charlie, last in the Stuart line. He was regarded by his entourage as Henry IX, but personally did nothing to assume the Jacobite claim.
The above plaque, formerly in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, and now in the Pontifical Scots College, Rome, describes Henry Benedict as "Henry IX, son of James III, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, proclaimed Duke of York, Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Vice Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals and Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica". It also tells us he died in Frascati on 13 July 1807, having lived 82 years, 4 months and 7 days.