According to reports in the UK press, Rachel Reeves, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, has resolved to replace the portraits of men that hang in the stateroom of her new official home, No.11 Downing Street, with portraits of, or painted by, women.
Apparently, the first to be carried out of the door by the removalists will be King James II. Looking at his portrait, it’s perhaps understandable why a 21st-century, left-wing, female cabinet minister wouldn’t want this particular King looking down his nose at her from the stateroom wall.
Who was King James II?
So, who was the soon-to-be-jettisoned King James? He’s probably one of Britain’s lesser-known monarchs, mainly because he reigned for only three years, from 1685 to 1688. He was deposed during the ‘Glorious Revolution’. By this time, the largely Protestant population of England would no longer tolerate Catholic monarchs who believed they answered only to God.
James II was the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was part of the great Stuart dynasty. The son of Charles I, grandson of James I, and great-grandson of Mary, Queen of Scots.
After a nine-month stint as Lord Protector, Cromwell’s son Richard (‘Tumbledown Dick’) renounced power. Charles I’s eldest son, Charles II, triumphantly returned from exile at the age of 30 to restore the monarchy. His younger brother, James, was made Duke of York.
Unconventional bride
Duke James soon created his first scandal by announcing his engagement to a commoner, Anne Hyde. She was the daughter of Charles II’s chief minister. It is said he promised to marry her when he was trying to seduce her. But no one expected him to stick to his word, even when she became pregnant. But they married in secret, with their child born two months later. Sadly, the baby boy died, as did five more of their children. Only two daughters survived, and Anne herself died in 1671.
The diarist Samuel Pepys wrote that James was fond of his children. In contrast to the usually distant style of royal parenting of the time. But it was common knowledge that James kept mistresses. He was said by one contemporary to be ‘the most unguarded ogler of his time’, and the affronted Samuel Pepys noted that he ‘did eye, my wife, mightily’.
Dad of 27!
James remarried in 1673. His bride, the Italian princess Mary of Modena, was aged 15 to James’ 39. She was, in fact, only four years older than his daughter Mary. Over the course of their marriage, Queen Mary gave birth to 12 children – only two of whom survived into adulthood. (In total, James had 27 known children, seven of them with two of his mistresses.)
Charles II made James his Lord High Admiral. He played a key role in the Anglo-Dutch wars of the time. More interestingly (unless you like war), Charles put James in charge of fire-fighting operations during the 1666 Great Fire of London that started in a bakery and wiped out 15 percent of the city’s homes. One witness wrote, ‘The Duke of York hath won the hearts of the people with his continual and indefatigable pains day and night in helping to quench the Fire.’
Taking the throne
Charles II died in 1685, and James inherited his throne. He became James II of England and Ireland, and James VII of Scotland. Following in his father Charles I’s footsteps, James courted controversy and ultimately his reign was a disaster. But at least he kept his head!
It started out well. His subjects were happy to re-embrace the hereditary monarch tradition and tolerate his Catholicism. They thought it unlikely he would produce any more children with Queen Mary – and his daughter and heir, Princess Mary, and her husband, the Dutch Prince William of Orange, were staunch Protestants.
Religious uproar
However, James raised worries about a return to Catholicism when he began appointing Catholics to important military, academic, and political posts. In 1687 fears intensified when he issued a declaration against religious intolerance. A number of bishops who objected were charged with sedition but later acquitted. However, James had now shown his hand and the people were nervous.
Then, in 1688, Queen Mary did indeed give birth to a male heir, James Stuart. Protestants were so alarmed (and surprised) that a rumour circulated claiming the baby was an illegitimate child of James’ that had been smuggled into the birthing chamber in a warming pan. The baby’s baptism into the Catholic faith raised the horribly real prospect of a Catholic dynasty.
It ends in exile
King James II appears to have conveniently forgotten the fate of his father, King Charles I. In a rerun of history, James’ popularity was waning fast, and there were anti-Catholic riots taking place around the country. It seemed that only the removal of this King would stop another slide into civil war and possible royal beheading.
But James wasn’t giving up without a fight. Just four months later, he landed in Ireland with a largely French army, but in 1690 was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne. He returned to France and lived out the rest of his life in exile, under the protection of King Louis XIV. He died in 1701, at the age of 67.
To read more stories like this purchase a copy of ROYALS monthly, on sale now!
Can’t get enough of the Royals?
