James II

Elizabeth, duchess of Albemarle, unknown artist. Bridgeman Images.

The Mad Duchess Lives

Written into history as the ‘Mad Duchess’ of Albemarle, what brought about the downfall of Elizabeth Cavendish?

In the precarious years that followed the Restoration of Charles II, the senior clergy of the Church of England navigated the country’s shifting politics at their peril. But high principles still had their place, as John Jolliffe explains.

The Revolution of 1688 and the Flight of James II

A.A. Mitchell profiles James II: the last Stuart King; brave in battle but futile as a monarch; and who signally failed to reconcile his subjects to his ossified political beliefs.

Is There A Case For James II?

What was the “black thing” that palsied the character of the brave but highly unpopular monarch who was dethroned in 1688? Maurice Ashley queries a poisoned historical legacy.

The Birth of the Old Pretender

J.P. Kenyon describes how, in 1688, there were weighty reasons to suppose that the new royal heir was a changeling, smuggled to the Palace in a warming pan.

The Last Years of James II

Edward Corp looks at the life of a monarch in exile.

James II's Two Rebellions

Why did Monmouth fail and William of Orange succeed? Robin Clifton investigates the tale of two rebellions.

James II (r. 1685-89)

James II of England and VII of Scotland. Last Roman Catholic king of England. His promotion of co-religionists, and his suspension of the laws against both them and Protestant dissidents, antagonized Parliament and the aristocracy. Accused of absolutist ambitions, he so alienated his subjects that when William of Orange landed in England with an army - invited by seven leading Englishmen to come and call a free Parliament - James's support vanished and he eventually fled the country. He was deposed as a result of the Glorious Revolution, and his attempt to regain his throne was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne. He died in exile in 1701.