Figure 1.--Five of the children of Charles I and Henrietta Maria were painted by Van Dyck in 1637. They are Princess Mary, James Duke of York (future James II), Prince of Wales (future Charles II), Princess Elizabeth, and Princess Anne. Notice that James at age four is still wearing dresses. |
James II was the second surviving son of Charles I. His father had
been executed by Cromwell, but he and his elder brother Charles fled to France for saftey. James inherited the throne from his elder brother, Charles II, in 1685. He ws known as James II in England, but James VII of Scotland. His brother had quarlled with Parliament and covertly accepted money from France, but was cautious on the religious issue. James ignored his brother's advise and his militant Catholcism cost him the throne. The unexpected birth of a Catholic male heir was the cause of his down fall. James ruled for only 3 years, when he was overthrown in what has become knon as the Glorious Revolution.
James was the third and second eldest surviving son of Charles I and the French Bouborn Princess Henrietta Maria. Having broken an engagement to the Spanish infanta, he had married a Roman Catholic, Herietta Maria of France, and this only made matters worse. Although Charles had promised Parliament in 1624 that there would be no advantages for recusants (people refusing to attend Church of England services), were he to marry a Roman Catholic bride, the French insisted on a commitment to remove all disabilities upon Roman Catholic subjects. Charles's lack of scruple was shown by the fact that this commitment was secretly added to the marriage treaty, despite his promise to Parliament.
King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria had nine children. There were four sons and five daughters. His eldest son died at birth. His two other sons both were crowned kings of England.
Charles James was given the title Duke of Cornwall.
Charles was born in 1630. He lived in exile in France after his father's execution and was restored to the throne in 16??. Charles was the second, but eldest surviving son of Charles I. His father, Charles I, had been executed by Cromwell, but he and his younger brother James had been spirited away to France for saftey. The throne was restored to Charles in 1660 after the death of Cromwell. Charles pursued a moderate policy offering amnesty to all but the regecides who had signed the orders for his father's execution. Charles' reign was marked a period of relative stability after the upheaval of the English Revolution.
Mary Henrietta was born in 1631 and was the Princess Royal. Princess Mary Henrietta
married William II, Prince of Orange, at Whitehall Palace in London in 1641. They had one child, William III of Orange (1650- ). William was to marry Princess Mary, eldest daughter of King James II and in 1688 at the request of seven of the most powerful men uin the country, depose his father-in-law in the Glorious Revolution.
James was born in 1631. He was the third of his father's four sons.
King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria had five other other children daughters: Elizabeth (1635- ), Anne (1637- ), Catherine (1639- ), Henry of Gloucester, Duke of Gloucester (1640- ), and Henrietta Anne (1644- ).
James II was born in 1633. We have not yet developed details on his childhood. The Van Dyke portrait here suggests that he was very close to his older brother as a child.
Figure 2.-- Anthony Van Dyke in 1636 painted three of the children of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. They are the Prince of Wales (future Charles II), James Duke of York (future James II), and Princess Mary. Charles would have been avout 6 years old and James about 3 years of age. Notice how similar James' and Mary's dresses are. |
James wore dresses like his sisters as a small boy. He also wore a lace cap which appears to be identical to caps that the girls wore. HBC notes that in the Van Dyck painting that James wears a jacket over his dress. Such jackets may have been worn only by boys still wearing dresses, but HBC can not yet confirm this. I'm not sure when James was breecvhed, probably about 5 years of age. After breeching, James wore adult-styled clothes like his older brother Charles wears in the Van Dyck painting.
James became a Roman Catholic, probably as early as 1672, as an adult about 10 years after the Restoiration.
James was an able soldier and seaman, but, unfortunately for him, an inept politician. Upon his accession to the throne he promised to protect the Church of England and maintain the political and religious status quo, but in the event he could not resist the temptation to reintroduce Roman Catholicism in England. The revocation in 1685 of the Edict of Nantes had forced thousands of French Protestants to emigrate to England, intensifying the already vehement anti-Catholicism which existed there. James proceeded, ill-advisedly, to enlarge the standing army and to place Catholics within it in positions of command: after doing so, he stationed it where it threatened Protestant London. In 1687 his order to all Anglican
bishops to read his declaration of indulgence from their pulpits--a declaration which, in practice, meant that Dissenters would still be persecuted while Catholicism would not only be tolerated but favored--was met with resistance by seven of the twenty-six bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury: those who refused to read it were thrown into the Tower of London, and immediately became national heroes. Freed after trial, they further inflamed public sentiment against him.
James mairred twice.
James' first wife was a protestant, Anne Hyde (1637/38- ), daughter of Edward Hyde, Earl of Claredon. They married secretly in the Netherlands during 1659 while James was living in exile. They married officially in London after the Restoration (1660). I'm not sure about their relationship. The choice of a Protestant would seem political, but the number of children suggests a harmonious relationship. They had eight children, four boys and a four girls. The boys and two of the girls had died in child birth or at young ages. Two of the girls survived, Marry and Anne. Both were raised as Protestants on the order of James' brother King Charles II. Mary wed William of Orange who replaced her father in the Glorious Revolution. Mary and William died without producing an heir and were succeeded by Anne
James married agian in 1673. This time he marred a Catholic, Mary Beatrice Eleanorna d'Este. The choice of a Catholic proved to be his undoing. Her father was Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena. They were wed in Dover England. They had 12 children, but until James became king in 1666, none of the boys had survived. This meant that protestant Princess Mary from his first mairrage was in line to inherit the throne upon James' death. Then in 1688, the Queen unexpectedly gave birth to a son--the future never to be crowned James III. Prince James Frances Edward was not only born, but survived, making him the heir apparent. The king and his wife intended to raise him a Catholic, meaning that now firmly Protestant England would have a future Catholic king.
James II had learned nothing from his cautious brother and immediately upon rising to the throne began quarelling with Parliament on religious issues. These disagreements may have continued without removing the King as long as the people could anticipate a futute Protesrant queen. This changed with the birth of Prince James. Britain had changed considerably since the reign of James' father Charles I and was now a thoroughly protestant country. The British people would have accepted a protestant Stuart Queen, but were not prepared to accept a Catholic Stuart King.
James's downfall thus came about as a a result of the birth of his son. It may have ocurred anyway, but the heir's birth was the cause of his actual downfall. The prospect of a Catholic male heir, rather than a Protestant daughter, following Catholic James was too much for now thoroughly Protestant England. Various powerful figures within and without the government, faced with the prospect of a tyrannical Catholic dynasty, treasonously invited the staunchly Protestant William of Orange to assume the throne. William was the son of Princess Mary Henrietta, eldest daughter of Charles I. He was mairred to Mary Stewart, the eldest protestant daughter of James II and his first wife Anne Hyde. King James, finding himself bereft of political and military support, fled, though he stopped to throw the Great Seal of England into the Thames. He was captured by some fishermen, however, before he could cross the Channel, and was brought back, ignominiously, to London. William, having no wish to make him a martyr or a center for Catholic resistance, contrived to let him escape again. It was announced that he had abdicated, and the throne was officially declared vacant, though it was of course immediately occupied by William and Mary. A convention Parliament in 1689 officially offered them the crown.
After King James was deposed, he went to Italy with his young son James and lived under the protection of the Pope. He lived out his life in exile. For the Jacobites, King James II and VII continued to reign in the eyes of the Jacobites even after he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution. King James plotted for many years to reclaim the English and the Scottish thrones. The most serious were his efforts in 1689 right after he was deposed. James died in 1701.
James II was succeeded by his son, James Edward Stuart or Janes III and VIII, who in turn was succeeded by his sons, Charles III and Henry IX and I. At this time we have little information about James III, other than his birth precipitated his father's removal as king. James III, who lived his life in exile, is principally known as "THe Old Pretender". He married a Polish princess and had two sons. His best known son was Prince Charles Edward Stewart--the Bonny Prince Charlie of legend. James lived in exile in France, supported by the French King as a challenge to the Hannovarian kings of Britain. He spent his life dreaming and ploting to seize the throne. The only seious challenge to the throne was the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 led by his son Charles which ended disatrously in 1746 at Culloden and brought on a devestating suppression of the Highland clans.
Charles III is better known as Prince Charles Edward Stewart, Bonnie Prince Charlie. He was the son of the uncrowned Stuart King James III of Britain and the grandson of the dethroned and last Stuart king--James II James had ruled for only 3 years, from 1685-88. He quickly lost control of the country when he arogantly ignored the advise of his older, more cautious brother--the restored Charles II. Perhaps more importantly a son was born, leading to the prospect of a future Catholic king--James III. Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart had trained in France for warfare since childhood. He had fought bravely with the French at the siege of Gaeta in Italy. The Prince, like his father, had been brought up a Roman Catholic, and dreamed of bringing England back to the Catholic faith. The Prince became for ever associated with Scotland, but was in fact not a Scot. His father conceived of seizing the British Crown from Hanovarian King George II. The Prince landed in Scotland in 1745 and launched the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. He raised a force of Highlanders which seized Scotland and pushed deep into the English Midlands, but decided to withdraw to the Highlands and was defeated at Culloden Moor in 1746. After 5 months of evading capture Charles himself escaped by ship to France. Many of his Highland followers were no so lucky. Charles in 1750 visited London secretly. He tried for years to involve various European powers in assisting his restoration, but with no success. By the
mid-1760's his claims to the British throne were no longer recognised by the Pope and even Catholic powers. Charles died in 1788 having lived almost all his life in exile.
Henry was the younger son of James III and brother of Carles III, Bonnie Prince Charlie.
With the death of Henry in 1807 the legitimate male line of the Royal House of Stuart became extinct.
The Stewart succession to the throne passed to the senior heir of King Charles I, descended from his youngest daughter Henrietta Anne. This was Charles Emanuel IV of
Savoy--an Italian kingdom.
The Stewart succession to the throne has continued until today when it is represented by Duke Francis of Bavaria.
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