A musical expert claims that one of the best-known Christmas carols contains a centuries-old secret political code which praises Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Professor Bennett Zon alleges that O Come All Ye Faithful, which is also called Adeste Fideles, is really a birth ode to the Jacobite Young Pretender, who fled to France after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Born in Italy on December 20 1720, Prince Charles Edward Stuart became the focus for Catholic Jacobite rebels intent on restoring the House of Stuart to the throne.

In 1745, he raised an army which took Edinburgh and marched into England, but turned back at Derby. His hopes - and the '45 Rebellion, as it became known - ended with the Battle of Culloden.

Professor Zon, head of the department of music at Durham University, says he unearthed "clear references" to the prince in the carol's lyrics, written by the 18th century music scribe John Francis Wade.

"There is far more to this beloved song than meets the eye," he said.

"Fideles is faithful Catholic Jacobites. Bethlehem is a common Jacobite cipher for England and Regem Angelorum is a well-known pun on Angelorum, angels, and Anglorum, English.

"The meaning of the Christmas carol is clear: Come and Behold Him, Born the King of Angels' really means, Come and Behold Him, Born the King of the English' - Bonnie Prince Charlie!"

Professor Zon said there were other clues to the subversive political message contained in the carol.

"In its earliest forms, from the 1740s to 1770s, Adeste Fideles is often found next to, or physically very near, prayers for the exiled monarch," he said.

"And in John Francis Wade's books it and other liturgical texts with hidden' Jacobite meaning are often strewn - even laden - with Jacobite floral imagery.

"One of the books containing the carol even contains a colourful picture of the exiled monarch, as well as a Jacobite cryptogram in Latin on its title page.

"When deciphered it gives a very clear sense of its Jacobite connections," Professor Zon said.

The Jacobite meaning of the carol gradually faded as the cause lost its grip on popular consciousness, he claims.

"Adeste Fideles seems to have lost its Jacobite meanings not long after Wade's last published book in 1773," he went on. The real meaning of the carol, remains, however, although whose birth we choose to celebrate in it remains a matter of personal decision."

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