Editing Henry Benedict Stuart (section)

==French Revolution and later life==
[[File:Maurice Quentin de La Tour Prince Henry Benedict Clement Stuart.jpg|thumb|150px|Henry Benedict Stuart by [[Maurice Quentin de La Tour]] (1746/47), [[Lost portrait of Charles Edward Stuart|long thought]] to be of Charles Edward Stuart]]
At the time of the [[French Revolution]], he lost his French Royal benefices and sacrificed many other resources to assist [[Pope Pius VI]]. This, in addition to the seizure of his [[Frascati]] property by the French, caused him to descend into poverty,{{sfn |Burton |1913}} which resulted in the sale of the [[Stuart Sapphire]]. The British Minister in [[Venice]] arranged for Henry to receive an [[Annuity (financial contracts)|annuity]] of £4,000 from [[George III of Great Britain]]. Although the British government represented this as an act of charity, Henry and the [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]] considered it to be a first instalment on the money which was legally owed to him. (For many years the British government had promised to return the English [[dowry]] of his grandmother, [[Mary of Modena]], but never did so.)

The Vatican had recognised James Francis Edward Stuart as James III and VIII as the King of Great Britain and Ireland. After his death in 1766, the Vatican did not recognise his son (Henry's brother) Charles, who had converted to [[Anglicanism]] in 1750. The Vatican had not, however, overtly recognised the Hanoverian monarchs. However, in November 1792 the Vatican first referred to George III as the King of Great Britain and Ireland instead of the [[Elector of Hanover]]. This resulted in a protest by Henry, who suggested the insult would result in him not visiting Rome again.{{sfn |Fothergill |1958 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/cardinalking0000foth/page/204/mode/2up 205–206]}}

Despite their general [[anti-clericalism]] and hostility to the Bourbon monarchy, the [[French Directory]] suggested to the [[United Irishmen]] in 1798 to elevate Henry as [[Monarchy of Ireland|King of the Irish]] (Henry IX).{{sfn|Pittock|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/poetryjacobitepo0000pitt/page/210/mode/1up 210]}}<ref name="Aston 2202 p. 220">{{harvnb|Aston |2002 |p=[https://archive.org/details/christianityrevo0000asto/page/222/mode/1up 220]}}</ref> This was in the course of General [[Jean Joseph Amable Humbert]] landing a force in [[County Mayo]] for the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], and trying to rally the Catholic population: a significant number of Irish priests supported the Rising, even though Humbert's army had been veterans of the anti-clerical campaign in Italy.<ref name="Aston 2202 p. 220"/> The French hoped Henry could lead a French client state in Ireland; however, [[Wolfe Tone]], the Protestant republican leader, vetoed the scheme.<ref name="Aston 2202 p. 220"/>
Henry returned to Frascati in 1803. In September of that year he became the [[Dean of the College of Cardinals]] and hence [[Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Velletri]],{{sfn |Burton |1913}} though he still lived in the episcopal palace at Frascati. He died there on 13 July 1807, aged 82, simultaneously the 60th anniversary of his appointment as the Cardinal Deacon of his titular church, and the 46th anniversary of his elevation to the rank of Cardinal Bishop.