Flora Fraser (13:30)

Flora Macdonald, the remarkable young Scotswoman whose bold decision to help "Bonnie" Prince Charlie flee the country, has become the stuff of legend, inspiring countless novels, poems, and songs - most notably, the ‘Skye Boat Song’.

Drawing on new material for Pretty Young Rebel, master historian Flora Fraser presents a fascinating picture of this headstrong woman who conveyed Charles, disguised as an Irish maid, by boat to Skye. Following a confession from one of the boatmen she was arrested and taken to London on charges of treason.

After release, disaster befell her again, and she fled the impoverished highlands in 1774 with her husband Allan for the New World - utterly unaware of the burgeoning revolution that would upend their lives there, with Allan imprisoned and Flora fleeing, penniless, back home to the Hebrides.

Flora Fraser’s family have deep Scottish roots. She was named after Flora Macdonald by her mother, biographer Antonia Fraser.

In conversation with Rosemary Goring

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