Details

Name

Mary

Brief Biography

1662 - 1694, English

Occupation

Monarch

Description

Queen Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland was the eldest daughter of King James VII of Scotland and I of England and Anne Hyde. She was a member of the Stuart royal family. Like her sister Anne, Mary was raised to be an Anglican. She had married William of Orange in 1677 and went to the the Netherlands to live. He was also known as William of Orange because he was from Holland and so Mary was also the Princess of Orange. They came to the throne after the 'Glorious Revolution' which saw her father flee to France in exile. In 1685, Mary's uncle King Charles II died and her father became King James VII and II. But his pro-Roman Catholic policies provoked a constitutional crisis and following the birth of his son, James. It was feared that there would be another Roman Catholic monarch. William of Orange was invited to England to take the throne. He landed with an army in November 1688. Mary insisted that she and William rule as joint monarchs. In April 1689, they were crowned together in Westminster Abbey. She became Queen Mary II and her husband King William III and II. They accepted the Bill of Rights of 1689 limiting the sovereign's power, reaffirming Parliament's control of taxation and legislation, and restraining royal powers. While King William led military campaigns in Ireland (1690 - 1691) against King James VII and II, and on the Continent (1692 - 1694), Queen Mary governed as regent with her husband's advice. When King William was in England she retired from this position and politics in general. Queen Mary II was popular with the public, although in private she remained troubled by her estrangement from her father. On the 28 December 1694, Queen Mary died of smallpox. King William was left to rule on his own until he died in 1702. The couple had no children and so Mary's sister Anne came to them throne - the last Stuart monarch.