Mary II of England

At the age of fifteen, Mary was engaged to William of Orange, her cousin and fourth in line to the throne. The proposed alliance was initially unapproved by King Charles II, who wanted Mary to marry Dauphin Louis, heir to the French throne. However, he later agreed to it after pressure from the Parliament.

Mary and William were married on November 4, 1677 in St James’ Palace by Bishop Henry Compton. She became a devoted wife and was popular within the Dutch circle due to her amicable personality.

Mary underwent a miscarriage early in her marriage. This incident probably impaired her ability to have children and thus, the couple remained childless.

Mary was born on April 30, 1662 at St James’ Palace, London, to James, Duke of York and Anne Hyde. She was baptised in Anglican faith unlike her father who converted to catholic. She had a younger sister, Anne. Her uncle, Charles II was the King of England.

Since King Charles II had no legitimate children of his own, Mary, since young, became second in line to the throne, after her father. For most of her childhood, she and her sister Anne were raised at Richmond Palace by their governess. Occasionally, the girls met their parents and grandparents.

Mary was educated by private tutors. Moreover, she was trained in dance, music and drawing. Following the death of her mother, her father remarried Mary of Modena.

At a young age, Mary was betrothed to Protestant Stadtholder of Holland, William of Orange. She was unhappy with the alliance but had no choice but to accept. The marriage took place in 1677.

Following the death of King Charles II in 1685, Mary’s father James, Duke of York served as the King of England, Ireland and Scotland. His accession was opposed by the former King’s illegitimate son, Monmouth who enforced an invasion but the latter was defeated, captured and executed.

King James’ controversial pro-catholic policies led to a constitutional crisis. Through the Declaration of Indulgence, he granted freedom of religion to Catholics by suspending acts of parliament by royal decree. This made King James highly unpopular amongst politicians and noblemen who turned in favour of Mary and William.

The birth of King James’ son, James Francis Edward created an alarm amongst the Protestants who feared the boy’s inheritance and virtual turning of the state from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. Adding to the woes was the gossip that the son born was not King James and Queen Mary’s child but a baby secretly smuggled by the King to assure a Catholic succession.

James’ opponent invited Mary and William to come to England with an army of their own and depose King James. Though William was reluctant of the move as it would make his wife Mary II powerful than him, he eventually agreed after Mary assured him that she would do all in her capacity to make him the King. She also assured him that she would abide by him and obey him

William, along with his army, reached the British shores in November 1688. He issued a declaration in which he claimed King James’ son as illegitimate and a ‘pretended Prince of Wales’. Fearing defeat, James fled to France, where he lived in exile until his death. Mary on the other hand was in a dilemma of whether to care for her father or dutifully support her husband.

It was under Mary II’s reign that the Bill of Rights came into existence. The bill limited the power of the sovereignty and instead reaffirmed parliamentary powers. Following the execution of the Bill of Rights, the sovereign had restricted rights. It could not challenge parliamentary laws, levy taxes without parliamentary consent, interfere in the parliamentary election and right to petition, inflict cruel punishment and deny rights to bear arms to Protestant subjects.