This beautiful Scottish folk song is arranged for Concert Band at the grade 2/3 level.
Bonnie Prince Charlie's dramatic escape to the Isle of Skye inspired one of Britain's most famous folk songs, and opening song lines, 'Speed bonnie boat'.  The song tells the tale of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart and grandson of James II and VII of Scotland), dressed in disguise as fair maiden ‘Betty Burke’, serving maid to Flora MacDonald. On 27 June 1746, accompanied by a crew of six boatmen and two servants, ‘Betty Burke’ and Flora sailed from Benbecula to Skye, landing at what is today called Prince’s Point in Kilmuir. After a night hiding in a cottage, they went overland to Portree, where the Prince was able to get passage to the island of Raasay and, from there, back to France. Charles and Flora never met again, although it is said that when she died in 1790, she was buried at Kilmuir wrapped in a sheet that Prince Charles had slept in. The Prince died in Rome on 31 January 1788.
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