Nonetheless, it seemed that the prince couldn't put a foot wrong.
When his army faced the Hanoverians at the Battle of Prestonpans, they won a resounding victory. At Holyroodhouse,debate raged as to what to do next. The Highland chiefs, sceptical of finding support in England, advised Charles to make the Stuarts masters of the north,but to go no further. But for Charles, nothing less than a conquest of England would do and he won the day by a single vote. The Jacobites were on their way south. In rapid succession, Carlisle, Lancaster, Preston and Manchester all fell to the prince's army without a shot being fired in their defence. With the Jacobites approaching Derby at the beginning of December and the bulk of His Majesty's forces of fighting in Europe,