ROME - "With the gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen," the British Ambassador to the Holy See Nigel Baker has laid a wreath at the tomb of James Francis Edward Stuart at St. Peter’s Basilica, to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of his State funeral, the British Embassy to the Holy See said Friday.

  James Francis Edward Stuart was the son of King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland and Queen Mary of Modena.

 He was also known as “the Old Pretender” and claimed the throne as “James III of England and Ireland, VIII of Scotland”. He died in exile in Rome on January 1, 1766 and was given the unprecedented honour of a State funeral by the Pope on January 8 that year in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he lies.

 The Pope recognised him as King, but did not extend that title to his sons in tacit, and later explicit recognition of the Hanoverian succession.

  The commemoration ceremony consisted of a simple wreath-laying and the appropriate Collect (in English) by HM Ambassador Baker, the reading of the Rite of Commendation (in Latin) by HE Angelo Cardinal Comastri, Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, and the sung Antiphon In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli.

  HM Ambassador was accompanied by the Rt Rev Monsignor Charles Burns, Ecclesiastical Advisor at the British Embassy to the Holy See. H.E. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Holy See Secretary for Relations with States, and H.E. Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, attended from the Holy See.

 Other participants included Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor, the Polish and Irish Ambassadors to the Holy See, the Rectors of the Pontifical Beda, Scots, Irish and Venerable English Colleges, and ecumenical representatives.

  jp-is