BIRTH OF QUEEN MARY II

BIRTH OF QUEEN MARY II

BIRTH OF QUEEN MARY II

Mary II was born on the 30th April 1662, the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York and his first wife Anne Hyde.

Mary was named after her ancestor Mary, Queen of Scots.

Her father James had converted to Roman Catholicism, but Mary and her sister Anne were brought up as Anglicans.

In November 1677, the 15 year old Mary, married her Dutch cousin William, Prince of Orange, and went to the Netherlands to live with him.

Mary was a tall, striking brunette, William a short, asthmatic man.
However, although theirs was a political match, genuine affection grew between them.

After an early miscarriage, Mary was unable to have any more children.

In 1685, Mary’s uncle Charles II died, and her father became king – making Mary heir presumptive.

In June 1688, James’s second wife gave birth to a son who, it was feared, would inherit the throne as another Catholic monarch.

James’s attempts at rule by decree led to his deposition in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and the adoption of the English Bill of Rights.

James’ opponents invited William of Orange to England, and he landed with an army in November 1688.

King James was deposed, and fled the following month.

When Mary was invited to rule in 1688, she refused to do so without William by her side.
They were the first and only couple to rule jointly.

In April 1689, they were crowned together in Westminster Abbey.
The king was crowned in the ancient Coronation Chair, so a new chair had to be specially made for Mary’s use.

This chair is now in the Abbey’s collection.

William and Mary oversaw important moves towards parliamentary democracy, with the bill of Rights 1689.

The Bill of Rights of 1689, limited the sovereign’s power, reaffirmed parliament’s claim to control taxation and legislation, and provided guarantees against the abuses of power which James II, and the other Stuart kings were perceived to have committed.

Catholics were excluded from becoming monarchs.

The Toleration Act of 1689 gave Protestant non-conformists, but not Catholics, freedom of worship.

This gave proper power to Parliament, and began the process of creating parliamentary democracy that we know today in Britain.

Never would a monarch be able to rule with power unchecked, again.

While William was directing military campaigns, Mary governed as regent, but she relied entirely on her husband’s advice.
In the periods when William was in England, she willingly retired from politics.

Mary was the more popular of the two, light-hearted and gentle.
William was seen as cold and unapproachable.

William had little time for court life, and was happier on the battle field.

Mary enjoyed great popularity, but continued to be deeply troubled by her estrangement from her deposed father.

William and Mary’s decision to re-locate to Hampton Court from Whitehall, didn’t please members of the government either, who felt they were inaccessible, and official business would be difficult to get done.

They also acquired the Earl of Nottingham’s house in Kensington, to transform it from a mansion, into a royal palace.

Within weeks the architect Sir Christopher Wren, was set to transform the house into a suitable royal residence.

The new Kensington palace was furnished with a chapel, accommodation for courtiers, kitchens, stables, barracks, but above all, a series of grand rooms or State Apartments where the King and Queen could hold audiences and ceremonies of state.

On 28th December 1694, 32 year old Queen Mary died of smallpox, in her bedchamber at the palace.
William was inconsolable.

She lay in state in the Banqueting House in Whitehall.
She lies buried in a vault in the south aisle of Henry VII’s Chapel, not far from her mother Anne.

A monument to her memory was designed but never erected, probably due to lack of space in the chapel.

Only a small stone now marks her grave.

In February 1702, while riding his favourite horse from Hampton Court, the animal stumbled and William fell badly, breaking his collar bone.

Against advice, the King travelled to Kensington Palace.

After a few days of deteriorating health, he died on 8th March 1702, aged 51.

William was succeeded by Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch.

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