One major step Fraser took to advance his cause was to convert to Catholicism. The court was ostentatiously Catholic, with James' mother Mary of Modena setting the standard for piety, and Middleton had himself recently converted. Once a Catholic, Simon was also able to secure a private audience with the King of France, Louis XIV, at Versailles. Here, speaking in "good French with a Scots accent", he put forward a plan for a rising by the Jacobite clans of the highlands, aided by French troops, arms and money. Later, he added flesh to these plans. About five thousand French troops would land on the east coast of Scotland, at Dundee. At the same time, five hundred men were to land on the west coast and seize Fort William or Inverlochy. Together, they would march towards Edinburgh, gathering men from the clans as they progressed. The involvement of the highlanders was "the main and the novel feature" of Simon's plan. It has also been suggested by later writers that this plan would form the basis of both major Jacobite uprisings, in 1715 and 1745.