Mary II of England

**Mary II** (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 until her death. Mary was a Protestant. She became queen after the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the  of her Roman Catholic father, James II and VII. Mary ruled together with her husband, William III and II. He became the ruler of both countries when she died in 1694. Popular histories usually call their joint  as those of "William and Mary". Mary had less power than William when William remained in England. When William went to military , however, she governed alone. She was a powerful, firm, and  ruler. She gave most of her authority to her husband, but he greatly depended on her. She was very active in the Church of England, ruling it as its Supreme Governor.

Mary was born at St. James Palace in London on 30 April 1662. Her father was James, Duke of York, and her mother was his first wife, Lady Anne Hyde. She was their oldest daughter. Mary's uncle was Charles II. Her grandfather by her mother's side was Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. He served for a long time as Charles's chief . Her mother gave birth to eight children, but only Mary and her younger sister Anne lived to adulthood.

The Duke of York became a Roman Catholic in 1668 or 1669, but Mary and Anne had a Protestant education, Mary's mother died in 1671, and her father married again in 1673. He took Mary of Modena, a Catholic, as his second wife. Before her marriage, Mary wrote many letters to Frances Apsley, the daughter of James II's hawks keeper. However, she did not return Mary's interest.

When she was 15, Lady Mary became betrothed to her first cousin, the Protestant William, Prince of Orange. He thought that it would make the Protestants like him more, but he was wrong. Mary and William married in London on 4 November 1677. There was no strong proof to support this story, but Mary publicly doubted the boy's legitimacy. She sent a list of suspicious questions to her sister, Anne, about the boy's birth.

On 30 June, the Immortal Seven secretly asked William, who was in the Netherlands with Mary, to come to England with an army. William, who was jealous of Mary's position and power, did not want to go at first.

William agreed to attack. He declared that James' newborn son was the "pretended Prince of Wales". He also gave a list of what the English people wanted, and said that he only wanted to have "a free and lawful Parliament ". On 11 December, the King tried to run away, but failed. He tried to run away again on 23 December. This second attempt was successful, and James escaped to France. He lived there in exile until his death. William of Orange felt uncomfortable about his position. He wanted to rule as a King, not simply as a husband of a Queen. The only example of joint monarchy was from the sixteenth century. This was Queen Mary I and the Spanish Prince Philip. When they married, it was agreed that Prince Philip would take the title of King. But Philip II was King only during his wife's lifetime. He also did not have much power. William wanted to remain King even after his wife's death. Some important people suggested making Mary the only ruler. Normally, James's oldest son, James Francis Edward would have been the heir. However, Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary as joint Sovereigns instead. But it was added that "the  and full exercise of the regal (royal) power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint lives." On the day of the Coronation, the Convention of the Estates of Scotland declared at last that James was no longer King of Scotland. William and Mary were offered the separate Scottish Crown.

## Rule 
In December 1689 Parliament passed one of the most important  in English history. This was the Bill of Rights. This measure gave several rights to Parliament and the people.

After either William III or Mary II died, the other was to continue to rule. The person who would become the monarch after them would be any of their children. After the children would be Mary's sister Anne and her children. Last of all would be any children William III might have had from any marriage after that.

William had crushed the Irish Jacobites by 1692, but he continued with campaigns away from England to begin a war against France in the Netherlands. When William was away, Mary acted in her own name but on his advice. When he was in England, Mary never joined in political matters, as had been agreed in the Bill of Rights.

Mary died of smallpox at Kensington Palace on 28 December 1694.  William had grown to depend on Mary more and more, and was very sad when she died. It is reported that he said that "from being the happiest" he was "now going to be the miserablest creature on earth".

Mary gave money to the College of William and Mary (in the present day Williamsburg, Virginia) in 1693. She also began the Royal Hospital for Seamen, Greenwich.
* **4 November 1677 – 13 February 1689**: *Her Highness* The Princess of Orange
* **13 February 1689 – 28 December 1694**: *Her Majesty* The Queen

William III and Mary II called themselves "William and Mary, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, etc." when they began their rule. On 11 April 1689, the Estates of Scotland recognized them as Sovereigns. From then on, William and Mary called themselves "William and Mary, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, etc.".

### Arms 
The arms used by the King and Queen were: *Quarterly, I and IV Grandquarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); overall an escutcheon Azure billetty and a lion rampant Or (for the House of Orange-Nassau)*.

## References 
;Notes