William and Mary’s marriage and joint reign over England, Scotland and Ireland were the product of lengthy political machinations. Parliament was in agreement that King James II, Mary’s father, had to go and what better solution than to join the protestant cousins, William and Mary, in holy matrimony, have William invade England and place the crown on Mary’s head? Mary insisted on a co-regency but the Bill of Rights that followed, an important document that hugely limited the sovereign’s power over tax, legislation, the military, and the treasury, may have been more than she bargained for. William spent eight months out of every twelve fighting a war with France and survived two Jacobite attempts to overthrow him, but his reign was short at just 13 years. Mary died after just five years on the throne, and as she died childless, the couple had failed to begin a dynasty of their own, and the crown was passed promptly to Mary’s sister, Anne upon William’s death.
Table of Contents
Key Facts
- William, son of William II of Orange, was born on 14th November 1650 (Georgian Calendar) at The Hague. Mary, the eldest daughter of King James II, was born on the 30th April 1662 at St. James’ Palace.
- William III and Mary II succeeded as the King of England and Ireland and Queen of England and Ireland on 13th February 1689.
- William and Mary were married on the 4th November 1677 in London. William was 27 at the time, and Mary was 15.
- William died on 8th March 1702, having reigned in England for thirteen years. Mary died on the 28th December 1694, having reigned just five years.
Both William and Mary’s childhoods were sadly lacking in parental influence. William’s father, William II, died a week before he was born meaning William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Mary also grew up motherless from the age of ten and was separated from her father James, then Duke of York, because it was thought imperative that Mary remain a Protestant while James was an open and dedicated Catholic.
In 1677, William and Mary were married despite the fact that they were first cousins. Mary was William’s mother’s niece and the daughter of his maternal uncle, James, Duke of York. The circ*mstances of William and Marys’ succession to the English throne were unconventional, to say the least. King James II of England and II of Ireland, and VII of Scotland, Mary’s father, was overthrown and militarily defeated in the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688 by a union of English Parliamentarians led by William III of Orange who just happened to be Mary’s husband.
James II and the other Stuart kings who came before him were accused by Parliament of repeated and gross abuses of their sovereign power. Several long centuries of conflict between the parliament and the crown came to a head in 1688 as the question of succession and, most importantly, the religion of the next king or queen came into focus. William of Orange’s successful invasion of England forced King James II to flee to France and allowed Parliament to depose him on the grounds of desertion.
Despite the fact that James II had an infant son, James Francis Edward, who should have succeeded him by hereditary principle, it was Mary to whom the English throne was offered by parliament. This was not an oversight but a tactical move by parliament who wanted to restrict the succession to a Protestant line, ensuring an end to the idea that England may be restored to Roman Catholicism. To make it official, William and Mary accepted a Parliamentary Act of Settlement that meant their title to the throne was only valid by an act of Parliament.
Although William had militarily defeated James II and invaded England, Mary was senior to her husband in her claim on the English throne and could have reigned independently. However, her insistence that she wished to resign her rights altogether to William resulted in Parliament offering the crown to the couple jointly as king and queen regnant.
The English Bill of Rights (1689) was drawn up by Parliament and signed by William and Mary in 1689. The bill was conceived to ensure that the power of the monarchy would be, in the future, limited and that Parliament could function free from royal interference. Importantly the bill reaffirmed Parliament’s control of taxation and legislation in England meaning the Sovereign was forbidden from levying taxes without Parliamentary consent or interfering with laws already passed by Parliament. The royal court was abolished, and the proper court was forbidden from imposing cruel punishments or excessive bail. Freedom of speech was to be upheld, and the sovereign was banned from having anything to do with elections or from maintaining their own army. Finally, Parliament put an end to the monarchy’s use of England’s treasury as a personal piggy bank and tightened control over the sovereign’s expenditure.
This magnificent document inspired the English colonists in the Thirteen Colonies that would later become part of the United States of America, to revolt against King James II and his stance on colonial government. Revolts occurred in New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland in 1689.
One of the main factors that motivated William’s marriage to Mary and the seizing of the English throne was to embroil the English in the ongoing war between the Netherlands and Louis XIV of France. The Dutch and the English joined the coalition against France during the Nine Years War, hoping to limit France’s expansion in Europe. This long and costly war came to an end in 1697 with The Peace of Rijswijk treaty. William immediately formed an alliance with England, Holland, and Austria in an attempt to prevent the France and Spain from uniting. This move led to the ‘War of the Spanish Succession.’
Soon after Mary and William’s wedding Mary had become pregnant but miscarried and due to a later illness was unable to give birth to a child. In 1694 Mary died of smallpox, aged just 32 years and childless. With Mary, dead William’s popularity with the English public dwindled further. Already criticized for his conflict with France which was a venture more beneficial to the Netherlands than England, William now became a target for more Jacobite plots. William and Mary had already fought two Jacobite rebellions in 1689. Scottish Jacobites defeated the Scottish army at Killiekrankie and James II fought with French troops in Londonderry. William’s navy defeated James,’ and he led an English army to victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
In 1701 James II died, and Louis XIV recognized his son, James, Duke of York, the Catholic son who had been skipped in the succession for Mary, as King of England. This move created a surge in popularity for William’s war with France with many patriots and politicians rallying to protect their nation and its sovereign. Just a year later though, on the 8th March 1702, William died of bacterial pneumonia following a fall whilst riding at Hampton Court. It was Mary’s younger sister Anne’s turn to take to the throne.
Legacy Today
The most significant event of William and Mary’s reign was the signing of the English Bill of Rights in 1689. This bill dramatically increased the English Parliament’s influence and ended many centuries of hostility between parliament and the crown. It also comforted a nation of Protestants who were now satisfied that England would not be returned to Roman Catholicism and inspired English colonists in the Thirteen Colonies to make their first loud steps towards American Independence. William’s victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne ensured the Protestant faith kept its hold in Britain and his war with France, although costly and beneficial to his native Netherlands, did put a stop to Catholic Louis XIV’s ambitions to expand his territory.
Film & TV Appearances
William III
- The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (2005)
- Blood Royal: William the Conqueror (1990) TV play
- Orlando (1992)
- Peter the Great (1986) TV series
- The First Churchills (1969)
- Against All Flags (1952)
- Captain Kidd (1945)
- The Black Tulip (1937)
Mary II
- The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (2005)
- England, My England (1995)
- Orlando (1992)
- The First Churchills (1969)
Further Research
- Waller, Maureen (2006). Sovereign Ladies: The Six Reigning Queens of England
- Van der Kiste, John (2003) William and Mary
- Van der Zee, Henri, and Barbara. William and Mary (1973)
- Baxter, Stephen B, William III and the Defense of European Liberty, 1650–1702 (1966)
- Chapman, Hester W., Mary II: Queen of England (1953)
Locations to Visit
- Mary II was born at St James’s Palace, died at Kensington Palace and is buried at Westminster Abbey.
- William III was born at Binnenhof, The Hague, died at Kensington Palace and is buried at Westminster Abbey.
- William and Mary lived primarily between their palaces at Whitehall and Kensington in London.
