The official website of HRH The Duke of York, KG The Duke of York Award for Technical Education The Duke of York Hosts Raspberry Pi Reception Princess Eugenie attends the Anti-Slavery Service at Westminster Abbey Who are the Duke of York, Duke of Kent, etc., and how did they get their titles? | HowStuffWorks Who are the Duke of York, Duke of Kent, etc., and how did they get their titles? NEXT PAGENEXT Britain's royalty and nobility fascinate the rest of the world, especially Americans. We wonder what all those titles mean and who all those people we've seen at royal weddings and funerals are. And today (August 4, 2000) is a good day to talk about the royal family because it is the birthday of the Queen Mother, who is 100 years old. The British royal family is like other families, made up of spouses, children, grandchildren, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. The head of the British royal family is Queen Elizabeth II, and she is the one who decides who are bona fide members of the family and what titles they will carry.

Up Next Charles I of England Quiz To answer your question -- a duke is the highest rank you can achieve without being a king or a prince. Historically a duke is a high-ranking nobleman, land-owner or a prince, and in feudal times was the lord over part of the country. Today the titles are largely symbolic and there are 28 dukedoms. Some people (like Prince Charles) have several dukedoms and some dukedoms are unassigned. When a duke who does not have an heir dies, the title returns to the royal family to be given out to someone new. Not everyone who carries the title duke or earl is a member of today's royal family. Britain has a system of peerage, which ranks members of the nobility and aristocracy. Many titles of nobility were won many years ago through great wealth, favors to the king or good deeds and are passed on from one generation to the next. This is known as the inherited peerage. For example, Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is the ninth man in his family to carry that title.

Before he became Earl Spencer (note that the practice is to drop the "of") upon the death of his father, he was known as Charles Spencer or as Viscount Althorp, a title that his son, Louis, now carries. Other noble titles are given on merit or on special occasions. The life peerage are titles that the monarch confers on exceptional people during their lifetimes, and those titles do not pass to children or descendents. Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of Britain, is now Baroness Thatcher. The British prime minister consults with the queen about who is deserving of a life peerage, and several people are elevated to the peerage every year. Life peers get a seat in the House of Lords, but a law passed in 1999 limits the right of hereditary peers to have a seat. The order of the titles in British Isles nobility from highest to lowest are: Duke (and duchess): The name is derived from the Latin dux, which means leader. Most dukedoms carry a place name, although that means little to the modern titles because the holders are not the sovereigns of a land area.

Marquess or marquis (and marchioness): This title appeared in England with the Norman conquest and was given to nobles who were in charge of border areas. The name is related to older words for a frontier. Earl (and countess): The name comes from a Norse word, jarl, which meant leader. It is equivalent to a count in European nobility. Viscount (and viscountess): Pronounced VI-count, this title derives from the Latin comes for a companion and was sort of an assistant nobleman in the old days. Baron (and baroness): The lowest rank of nobility came to England with the Normans, also, and the word is derived from the Norman word for a freeman. If you have a life peerage this is the highest title you can carry. Below these are the lower nobility, who carry the titles: Baronet: This title is granted to members of the upper classes, referred to as the gentry. The story is that King James I created the title to raise money. Knight: In medieval times, knights were the soldiers of the king or of princes. Now, the queen grants knighthood to her subjects who have achieved great success in their professions.

Paul McCartney, the former Beatle, has been knighted. The female equivalent is dame. Esquire: In medieval times, an esquire was a candidate for knighthood. Nowadays, it is applied to members of the gentry just below knights. The queen bestowed titles on her sons at their marriages and gave her daughter a special title. She has several titles that are hers to do with as she wishes. If an inherited peer dies without an heir, the title becomes the crown's property. Some titles that the queen's sons hold are part of the Scottish or Irish peerage. The princes' titles can be inherited by their sons. According to the royal family's official Web site, here are the members of the family today: Queen Elizabeth II. When Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born in 1926, no one expected her to become the queen. Her father, the Duke of York, was Prince Albert, the second oldest son of King George V, and his older brother, Prince Edward, was the heir apparent to the throne. Prince Edward did become King Edward VIII when George V died in early 1936.

But in one of the most famous scandals of the 20th century, Edward abdicated the throne because he wanted to marry a twice-divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson. So, in late 1936, Prince Albert became King George VI, and his older daughter became the heir presumptive, meaning that unless her parents had a son, she would succeed to the throne. Elizabeth became queen at her father's death in 1952. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. The queen's husband, like the queen, is a great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, and he was a member of both the Greek and Danish royal families. He spent a great deal of his childhood in England and served in the Royal Navy. He gave up his royal title and became a British citizen as a young adult. He received his noble title just before he and then Princess Elizabeth wed in 1947. He can't be king because that would actually give him a rank higher than his wife's. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Born Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, the widow of King George VI celebrates her 100th birthday Aug. 4, 2000.

She is beloved in Britain, not just because of her royal standing, her aristocratic birth and her grandmotherly demeanor, but because she stayed in London during the horrible bombing in World War II when she could have taken her children to a safer place in the countryside. She and her daughter are the only two members of the royal family who are referred to as "Her Majesty," an address that is reserved for kings and queens. Everyone else in good standing is "His Royal Highness" or "Her Royal Highness." The Prince of Wales. The queen has given her oldest son, Prince Charles, several titles, chief among them prince of Wales. That is the traditional title carried by the heir to the British throne. He is also Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. His sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, are second and third in the line of succession after Charles. Their mother, of course, was Diana, whose death in 1997 caused an outpouring of grief across Britain and around the world. The Duke of York.

The queen's second son, Andrew, is also Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, titles his mother gave him when he married. His wife, Sarah Ferguson, became the Duchess of York, and even though the couple divorced in 1996, she is known as Sarah, Duchess of York. She lost the right to be addressed as "Her Royal Highness" though. Their daughters are Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Because Prince Andrew has no sons, his title will not be passed on to an heir. It is the crown's property, in a sense, and upon the current Duke of York's death, a king or queen in the future could give the title to another man. The Earl of Wessex. The youngest son of the queen prefers to be called Edward Windsor when he is working as a television producer, but he is listed as the Earl of Wessex in the royal family. He became a earl at his marriage in 1999 to Sophie Rhys-Jones, who is now the Countess of Wessex. It is unusual for the son of a sovereign to have a title no higher than earl. The Princess Royal.

The queen gave her only daughter, Princess Anne, this special title in 1987. It is a title that traditionally can only be given to the monarch's oldest daughter, but not all oldest daughters get the title. The Princess Royal, married for the second time and the mother of two, is considered the hardest working member of the royal family. She sponsors many charitable causes. The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. The queen's younger sister and only sibling became Countess of Snowdon when her then-husband was named Earl of Snowdon at their marriage in 1960. They have been divorced since 1978. Their two children are Lord Linley and Lady Sarah. Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Princess Alice is the widow of the Duke of Gloucester. Her husband, Prince Henry, was the third son of King George V, the queen's grandfather. Her son is now the Duke of Gloucester. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Prince Richard is Princess Alice's son and the queen's cousin, and the duchess is his wife, the former Birgitte van Deurs.

He inherited his father's title, even though he was a second born son because his older brother died in an accident some years before his father died. The Duke and Duchess of Kent. The duke is the queen's cousin, Prince Edward. His father was the fourth son of King George V. The Duke of Kent inherited his title from his father, who died in an accident in 1942. The Duchess of Kent is the former Katharine Worsley. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Prince Michael is the younger brother of the Duke of Kent. The prince's wife is known as Princess Michael of Kent, even though her given name is Marie-Christine. That is the nobility's way of indicating that she is a princess by marriage, not by birth. Prince Michael is no longer in the line of succession for the throne. He gave up his spot when he married Princess Michael, a Roman Catholic divorcee, but the two still perform royal duties and represent the queen at weddings and funerals. Princess Alexandra. She is the sister of the Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent. Her husband is Sir Angus Ogilvy, and they have two children. Here are some interesting links.

About The Duke | The Duke of York Science, Technology and Engineering Sea King Helicopter, Royal Naval Air Station © PA The Duke of York was born at Buckingham Palace on 19th February, 1960; the first child born to a reigning monarch for 103 years. He is the second son and third child of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. Christened Andrew Albert Christian Edward, he was titled The Prince Andrew until his marriage in 1986, when he was created The Duke of York. Prince Andrew was educated at Heatherdown Preparatory School in Ascot and Gordonstoun School in Morayshire, Scotland, and from an early age wanted to become a helicopter pilot. In 1979, upon completion of A-levels, HRH joined the Royal Navy on a short-service commission as a Seaman Officer, sub-specialising as a Pilot. Midshipman Prince Andrew passed out of Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth in 1980, before undergoing fixed-wing and helicopter flight training at RAF Leeming and Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose respectively.

In 1981 HRH was presented with his ‘Wings’ and the award for the best pilot by The Duke of Edinburgh. Lakefield College Sub Lieutenant Prince Andrew converted to the Sea King helicopter, before joining his first front-line unit: 820 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) embarked in HMS INVINCIBLE. In April 1982 the unit sailed as part of the Task Group to the South Atlantic to regain the Falkland Islands. During the conflict HRH flew missions including Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW), inter-ship Helicopter Delivery (HDS), Search and Rescue (SAR) and casualty evacuation. Upon return to Portsmouth in September 1982, HMS INVINCIBLE was met by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. 815 Squadron © PA The Duke’s active service with the Royal Navy spanned twenty-two years during which, as Lt Cder The Duke of York, he was selected to command the Hunt Class Mine Counter Measures Vessel HMS COTTESMORE. HRH returned to flying duties, taking up an appointment as Senior Pilot of 815 NAS at RNAS Portland, where he served until October 1996.

In January 1997, he was appointed to the Ministry of Defence as a Staff Officer in the Directorate of Naval Operations. Promoted Commander in 1999, he took up an appointment within the Naval Staff, before departing from active service with the Royal Navy in July 2001.After completing his military career, The Duke was invited to take up a new position as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. Working with Her Majesty’s Government, and specifically UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the role involved promoting Britain as a destination for inward investment, and creating favourable conditions for UK businesses exporting and investing overseas. HRH undertook this role for almost a decade, until 2011. Pitch@Palace Today, The Duke’s work continues to have a strong economic and business focus, as he seeks to recognise the people and organisations striving to ensure that Britain has the workforce, intellectual property and entrepreneurial culture to remain a global economic leader. On education, HRH is committed to supporting a wide range of pathways, including vocational learning, to ensure that young people develop relevant skills to allow them to become economically active.

As business becomes more efficient, HRH believes entrepreneurs will be the growth and job creators of the future, and he therefore supports initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship. And conscious that the United Kingdom has always been a great innovator, HRH recognises the importance of innovation in creating new enterprises. Therefore The Duke is a champion of British Science, Technology and Engineering. Additionally, HRH continues to support many charitable and not-for-profit organisations, and maintains close links with the Armed Services. On 23rd July, 1986, HRH married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey. The Duke and Duchess of York’s first child, Princess Beatrice, was born on 8th August 1988 at The Portland Hospital in London. Their second child, Princess Eugenie, was also born at The Portland Hospital on 23rd March 1990. The Princesses are seventh and eighth in the line of succession respectively. In March 1992, it was announced that The Duke and Duchess of York were to separate. They were divorced in 1996, but have remained devoted parents. The Duke is immensely proud of his family. Who is James, Duke of York?

| Reference.com Who is James, Duke of York? A: Quick Answer James, Duke of York was the title held by King James II before he became the king of England. James Stuart was titled as the Duke of York in 1644, and eventually ascended the throne in 1685, following the death of his brother, King Charles II. Full of controversy, James' rule of England was short lived however, only lasting until 1688. Full Answer King James II's reign was troubled by the political and religious turmoil of the the time, as the Parliament and the people strove to keep the Protestant way of life alive in England. Though James never tried to press his own Catholicism on the country, when he married his second wife (a Catholic princess), Parliament worried that conversion was imminent. Rebelling, the nobles of England called for James' own son-in-law, William of Orange, to invade and remove James from the throne. James' daughter, Mary II, and William took over the throne when James fled, abdicating the throne. See All Videos Pitch@Palace Global is LIVE - watch it now! Pitch@Palace Global is the International arm of the Pitch@Palace initiative.

Pitch@Palace Global was set up by The Duke of York to guide, help and connect the best and most promising Entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses from around the world to UK and International networks. In 2016, Pitch@Palace Global visited Estonia, Malaysia and Mexico. In 2017, Pitch@Palace Global will visit China, Australia, the Middle East and Mexico. At the event 12 entrepreneurs representing these countries will give a 3 minute pitch to an invited audience of high profile investors and key business leaders, articulating their idea and their ask of the audience. You can find out more about the entrepreneurs by downloading the Pitch@Palace App at (Apple App Store) or (Google Play Store). 178 Regency History: Frederick, Duke of York (1763-1827) Frederick, Duke of York (1763-1827) by Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany from La Belle Assemblée (1827) Profile Prince Frederick, Duke of York (16 August 1763 - 5 January 1827), was the second son of George III and Queen Charlotte .

He became heir presumptive to the British throne on the death of his father in 1820 but never became king because he died before his older brother, George IV . Early years Prince Frederick was born on 16 August 1763 at St James’ Palace, London, the second son of King George III and Queen Charlotte and younger brother of George IV . He was George III’s favourite son, but despite this, he was close friends with his brother George. Duke of York On 27 November 1784, Frederick was made Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster. An extravagant lifestyle Frederick and George shared the same extravagant lifestyle, though Frederick took his official duties rather more seriously than his brother. He was constantly in debt due to his passion for gambling, both on horses and cards. During the Regency crisis of 1788 he supported George, causing him to fall out with his parents. In May 1789, he was nearly killed in a duel by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Lennox. The Gentleman's Magazine reported that Lennox's ball "grazed his Royal Highness's curl".

(1) The Duchess of York from A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany by John Watkins (1827) On 29 September 1791, in Berlin, the Duke married his cousin, Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia. The ceremony was repeated at Buckingham Palace on 23 November 1791. The marriage was not successful; they had no children and the couple soon separated. The Duchess of York retired to Oatlands Park in Weybridge, where she lived an eccentric life until her death in 1820. She was a popular local benefactress and was buried in Weybridge Old Church. Oatlands from Select illustrations of the County of Surrey by GF Prosser (1828) Military career Frederick joined the army in 1780 and spent several years in Hanover studying at the University of Gottingen with his younger brothers. As an inexperienced officer, he was put in command of the army in Flanders and suffered humiliating defeat. He became commander-in-chief of the British army in 1795 and embarked upon a series of reforms which revolutionised the army.

He took control of discipline, training the troops in drill and field manoeuvres. He also ensured the provision of greatcoats bought with public funds rather than the old system of leaving colonels to clothe their own regiments. In addition, he introduced a system for sending confidential reports to head office. The Duke created and trained the Rifle Brigade – the 95th Regiment – and equipped them with deadly accurate Baker rifles and uniforms designed for camouflage rather than display. The same desire for merit-based promotion led to the establishment of the Royal Military College in 1802 for the training of military officers. Baker Rifle The Mrs Clarke scandal In January 1809, Lloyd Wardle, a radical member of parliament, brought accusations against the Duke of York and his mistress, Mrs Clarke. It was revealed that Mrs Clarke, an extravagant actress under the Duke’s protection, had accepted money from people wishful of buying promotion or favours in the military. The Duke was accused of knowing about her sales of office and even sharing the proceeds. Parliament examined the evidence closely before clearing the Duke of personal corruption or aiding the corruption of his mistress.

However, it was clear that Mrs Clarke had been told far too much information of an official nature by her royal lover, and the Duke was obliged to resign his official appointments due to the embarrassment caused by this scandal. The Duke was, however, exonerated by his elder brother and reappointed commander-in-chief in 1811 when George became Prince Regent. King in waiting Frederick became heir presumptive to the British throne on the death of his father, George III, in 1820, but he never became king because he died on 5 January 1827, more than three years before his brother George IV. Note (1) From The Gentleman's Magazine (May 1789). Sources used include: Chedzoy, Alan, Seaside Sovereign - King George III at Weymouth, (2003) Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The Kings & Queens of England & Scotland, (1990) Watkins, John, A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1827) Watson, J.

Steven, Oxford History of England: The Reign of George III 1760-1815, (1960) James Stuart (Duke of York, Lord High Admiral) (Pepys' Diary) prev. Church of England Signature James II and VII (14 October 1633 O.S. – 16 September 1701 [1] ) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, [3] from 6 February 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch of England , Scotland and Ireland . The second surviving son of Charles I , he ascended the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II . Members of Britain's Protestant political elite increasingly suspected him of being pro-French and pro-Catholic and of having designs on becoming an absolute monarch . When he produced a Catholic heir , leading nobles called on his Protestant son-in-law and nephew William of Orange to land an invasion army from the Netherlands , which he did in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. James fled England (and thus was held to have abdicated).

[4] He was replaced by his eldest, Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James made one serious attempt to recover his crowns from William and Mary when he landed in Ireland in 1689. After the defeat of the Jacobite forces by the Williamites at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, James returned to France . He lived out the rest of his life as a pretender at a court sponsored by his cousin and ally, King Louis XIV . James is best known for his struggles with the English Parliament and his attempts to create religious liberty for English Roman Catholics and Protestant nonconformists, against the wishes of the Anglican establishment. However, he also continued the persecution of the Presbyterian Covenanters in Scotland. Parliament, opposed to the growth of absolutism that was occurring in other European countries, as well as to the loss of legal supremacy of the Church of England , saw their opposition as a way to preserve what they regarded as traditional English liberties. This tension made James's four-year reign a struggle for supremacy between the English Parliament and the Crown, resulting in his deposition, the passage of the Bill of Rights , and the accession of his daughter and her husband as king and queen.

Contents James with his father, Charles I , by Sir Peter Lely , 1647 Birth James, the second surviving son of King Charles I and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France , was born at St. James's Palace in London on 14 October 1633. [5] Later that same year, he was baptised by William Laud , the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury . [6] He was educated by private tutors, along with his brother, the future King Charles II , and the two sons of the Duke of Buckingham , George and Francis Villiers. [7] At the age of three, James was appointed Lord High Admiral ; the position was initially honorary, but would become a substantive office after the Restoration , when James was an adult. [8] He was designated Duke of York at birth, [9] invested with the Order of the Garter in 1642, [10] and formally created Duke of York in January 1644. [6] [9] Civil War As the King's disputes with the English Parliament grew into the English Civil War , James stayed in Oxford , a Royalist stronghold.

[11] When the city surrendered after the siege of Oxford in 1646, Parliamentary leaders ordered the Duke of York to be confined in St. James's Palace . [12] In 1648, he escaped from the Palace, aided by Joseph Bampfield , and from there he went to The Hague in disguise. [13] When Charles I was executed by the rebels in 1649, monarchists proclaimed James's older brother as Charles II of England . [14] Charles II was recognised as king by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of Ireland , and was crowned King of Scotland at Scone in 1651. Although he was proclaimed King in Jersey , Charles was unable to secure the crown of England and consequently fled to France and exile. [14] Exile in France Turenne, James's commander in France Like his brother, James sought refuge in France, serving in the French army under Turenne against the Fronde , and later against their Spanish allies. [15] In the French army James had his first true experience of battle where, according to one observer, he "ventures himself and chargeth gallantly where anything is to be done".

[15] In the meantime, Charles was attempting to reclaim his throne, but France, although hosting the exiles, had allied itself with Oliver Cromwell . In 1656, Charles turned instead to Spain – an enemy of France – for support, and an alliance was made. In consequence, James was expelled from France and forced to leave Turenne's army. [16] James quarrelled with his brother over the diplomatic choice of Spain over France. Exiled and poor, there was little that either Charles or James could do about the wider political situation, and James ultimately travelled to Bruges and (along with his younger brother, Henry ) joined the Spanish army under Louis, Prince of Condé , fighting against his former French comrades at the Battle of the Dunes . [17] During his service in the Spanish army, James became friendly with two Irish Catholic brothers in the Royalist entourage, Peter and Richard Talbot , and became somewhat estranged from his brother's Anglican advisers. [18] In 1659, the French and Spanish made peace . James, doubtful of his brother's chances of regaining the throne, considered taking a Spanish offer to be an admiral in their navy.

[19] Ultimately, he declined the position; by the next year the situation in England had changed, and Charles II was proclaimed King. [20] Restoration First marriage James and Anne Hyde in the 1660s, by Sir Peter Lely After Richard Cromwell 's resignation as Lord Protector in 1659 and the subsequent collapse of the Commonwealth in 1660, Charles II was restored to the English throne. Although James was the heir presumptive , it seemed unlikely that he would inherit the Crown, as Charles was still a young man capable of fathering children. [21] On 31 December 1660, following his brother's restoration, James was created Duke of Albany in Scotland, to go along with his English title, Duke of York. [22] Upon his return to England, James prompted an immediate controversy by announcing his engagement to Anne Hyde , the daughter of Charles's chief minister, Edward Hyde . [23] In 1659, while trying to seduce her, James promised he would marry Anne.

[24] Anne became pregnant in 1660, but following the Restoration and James's return to power, no one at the royal court expected a prince to marry a commoner , no matter what he had pledged beforehand. [25] Although nearly everyone, including Anne's father, urged the two not to marry, the couple married secretly, then went through an official marriage ceremony on 3 September 1660 in London. Their first child, Charles, was born less than two months later, but died in infancy, as did five further sons and daughters. [25] Only two daughters survived: Mary (born 30 April 1662) and Anne (born 6 February 1665). [26] Samuel Pepys wrote that James was fond of his children and his role as a father, and played with them "like an ordinary private father of a child", a contrast to the distant parenting common with royalty at the time. [27] James's wife was devoted to him and influenced many of his decisions.

[28] Even so, he kept mistresses, including Arabella Churchill and Catherine Sedley , and was reputed to be "the most unguarded ogler of his time." [29] Anne Hyde died in 1671. Military and political offices James in the 1660s by John Riley After the Restoration, James was confirmed as Lord High Admiral , an office that carried with it the subsidiary appointments of Governor of Portsmouth and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports . [30] James commanded the Royal Navy during the Second (1665–1667) and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars (1672–1674). Following the raid on the Medway in 1667, James oversaw the survey and re-fortification of the southern coast. [31] The office of Lord High Admiral, combined with his revenue from post office and wine tariffs (granted him by Charles upon his restoration) gave James enough money to keep a sizeable court household. [32] In 1664, Charles granted American territory between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers to James.

Following its capture by the English the former Dutch territory of New Netherland and its principal port, New Amsterdam , were named the Province and City of New York in James's honour. After the founding, the duke gave part of the colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley . Fort Orange , 240 kilometres (150 mi) north on the Hudson River , was renamed Albany after James's Scottish title. [25] In 1683, he became the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company , but did not take an active role in its governance. [25] James also headed the Royal African Company , a slave trading company. [33] In September 1666, his brother Charles put him in charge of firefighting operations in the Great Fire of London , in the absence of action by Lord Mayor Thomas Bloodworth . This was not a political office, but his actions and leadership were noteworthy. "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", wrote a witness in a letter on 8 September.

[34] Conversion to Roman Catholicism and second marriage Wedding suit of James II, 1673 Mary of Modena , James's second wife, 1680 James's time in France had exposed him to the beliefs and ceremonies of Catholicism; he and his wife, Anne, became drawn to that faith. [35] James took Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church in 1668 or 1669, although his conversion was kept secret for some time and he continued to attend Anglican services until 1676. [36] In spite of his conversion, James continued to associate primarily with Anglicans, including John Churchill and George Legge , as well as French Protestants , such as Louis de Duras , the Earl of Feversham. [37] Growing fears of Catholic influence at court led the English Parliament to introduce a new Test Act in 1673.

[38] Under this Act, all civil and military officials were required to take an oath (in which they were required to disavow the doctrine of transubstantiation and denounce certain practices of the Catholic Church as superstitious and idolatrous) and to receive the Eucharist under the auspices of the Church of England . [39] James refused to perform either action, instead choosing to relinquish the post of Lord High Admiral. His conversion to Catholicism was thereby made public. [38] Charles II opposed the conversion, ordering that James's daughters, Mary and Anne, be raised as Protestants. [40] Nevertheless, he allowed James to marry the Catholic Mary of Modena , a fifteen-year-old Italian princess. [41] James and Mary were married by proxy in a Catholic ceremony on 20 September 1673. [42] On 21 November, Mary arrived in England and Nathaniel Crew , Bishop of Oxford , performed a brief Anglican service that did little more than recognise the Catholic marriage. [43] Many British people, distrustful of Catholicism, regarded the new Duchess of York as an agent of the Pope .

[44] James was noted for his devotion. He once said, "If occasion were, I hope God would give me his grace to suffer death for the true Catholic religion as well as banishment." [45] Exclusion Crisis In 1677, James reluctantly consented to his daughter Mary's marriage to the Protestant William of Orange (who was also James's nephew, the son of his sister Mary, Princess Royal ), acquiescing after his brother Charles and William had agreed upon the marriage. [46] Despite the Protestant marriage, fears of a potential Catholic monarch persisted, intensified by the failure of Charles II and his wife, Catherine of Braganza , to produce any children. A defrocked Anglican clergyman, Titus Oates , spoke of a " Popish Plot " to kill Charles and to put the Duke of York on the throne. [47] The fabricated plot caused a wave of anti-Catholic hysteria to sweep across the nation. The Duke of Monmouth was involved in plots against James. In England, the Earl of Shaftesbury , a former government minister and now a leading opponent of Catholicism, attempted to have James excluded from the line of succession.

[48] Some members of Parliament even proposed that the crown go to Charles's illegitimate son, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth . [49] In 1679, with the Exclusion Bill in danger of passing, Charles II dissolved Parliament. [50] Two further Parliaments were elected in 1680 and 1681, but were dissolved for the same reason. [51] The Exclusion Crisis contributed to the development of the English two-party system: the Whigs were those who supported the Bill, while the Tories were those who opposed it. Ultimately, the succession was not altered, but James was convinced to withdraw from all policy-making bodies and to accept a lesser role in his brother's government. [52] On the orders of the King, James left England for Brussels . [53] In 1680, he was appointed Lord High Commissioner of Scotland and took up residence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to suppress an uprising and oversee royal government. [54] James returned to England for a time when Charles was stricken ill and appeared to be near death.

[55] The hysteria of the accusations eventually faded, but James's relations with many in the English Parliament, including the Earl of Danby , a former ally, were forever strained and a solid segment turned against him. [56] Return to favour In 1683, a plot was uncovered to assassinate Charles and James and spark a republican revolution to re-establish a government of the Cromwellian style . [57] The conspiracy, known as the Rye House Plot , backfired upon its conspirators and provoked a wave of sympathy for the King and James. [58] Several notable Whigs , including the Earl of Essex and the King's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth , were implicated. [57] Monmouth initially confessed to complicity in the plot, implicating fellow-plotters, but later recanted. [57] Essex committed suicide and Monmouth, along with several others, was obliged to flee into Continental exile. [59] Charles reacted to the plot by increasing repression of Whigs and dissenters. [57] Taking advantage of James's rebounding popularity, Charles invited him back onto the privy council in 1684.

[60] While some in the English Parliament remained wary of the possibility of a Catholic king, the threat of excluding James from the throne had passed. Reign Accession to the throne Coronation procession of King James II and Queen Mary of Modena, 1685 Charles died in 1685 from apoplexy after converting to Catholicism on his deathbed. [61] Having no legitimate children, Charles was succeeded by his brother James, who reigned in England and Ireland as James II, and in Scotland as James VII. There was little initial opposition to his accession, and there were widespread reports of public rejoicing at the orderly succession. [62] James wanted to proceed quickly to the coronation, and was crowned with his wife at Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1685. [63] The new Parliament that assembled in May 1685, which gained the name of " Loyal Parliament ", was initially favourable to James, and the new King sent word that even most of the former exclusionists would be forgiven if they acquiesced to his rule.

[62] Most of Charles's officers continued in office, the exceptions being the promotion of James's brothers-in-law, the Earls of Clarendon and Rochester , and the demotion of Halifax . [64] Parliament granted James a generous life income, including all of the proceeds of tonnage and poundage and the customs duties. [65] James worked harder as king than his brother had, but was less willing to compromise when his advisers disagreed. [66] Two rebellions James portrayed c. 1685 in his role as head of the army, wearing a general officer's state coat Soon after becoming king, James faced a rebellion in southern England led by his nephew, the Duke of Monmouth , and another rebellion in Scotland led by Archibald Campbell , the Earl of Argyll . [67] Argyll and Monmouth both began their expeditions from Holland , where James's nephew and son-in-law, William of Orange , had neglected to detain them or put a stop to their recruitment efforts. [68] Argyll sailed to Scotland and, on arriving there, raised recruits mainly from his own clan, the Campbells .

[69] The rebellion was quickly crushed, and Argyll was captured at Inchinnan on 18 June 1685. [69] Having arrived with fewer than 300 men and unable to convince many more to flock to his standard, he never posed a credible threat to James. [70] Argyll was taken as a prisoner to Edinburgh. A new trial was not commenced because Argyll had previously been tried and sentenced to death. The King confirmed the earlier death sentence and ordered that it be carried out within three days of receiving the confirmation. Monmouth's rebellion was coordinated with Argyll's, but the former was more dangerous to James. Monmouth had proclaimed himself King at Lyme Regis on 11 June. [71] He attempted to raise recruits but was unable to gather enough rebels to defeat even James's small standing army. [72] Monmouth's rebellion attacked the King's forces at night, in an attempt at surprise, but was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor . [72] The King's forces, led by Feversham and Churchill, quickly dispersed the ill-prepared rebels.

[72] Monmouth was captured and later executed at the Tower of London on 15 July. [73] The King's judges—most notably, George Jeffreys —condemned many of the rebels to transportation and indentured servitude in the West Indies in a series of trials that came to be known as the Bloody Assizes . [74] Some 250 of the rebels were executed. [73] While both rebellions were defeated easily, they hardened James's resolve against his enemies and increased his suspicion of the Dutch. [75] Religious liberty and the dispensing power To protect himself from further rebellions, James sought safety by enlarging his standing army . [76] This alarmed his subjects, not only because of the trouble soldiers caused in the towns, but because it was against the English tradition to keep a professional army in peacetime. [77] Even more alarming to Parliament was James's use of his dispensing power to allow Roman Catholics to command several regiments without having to take the oath mandated by the Test Act.

[76] When even the previously supportive Parliament objected to these measures, James ordered Parliament prorogued in November 1685, never to meet again in his reign. [78] In the beginning of 1686 two papers were found in Charles II's strong box and his closet, in his own hand, stating the arguments for Catholicism over Protestantism. James published these papers with a declaration signed by his sign manual and challenged the Archbishop of Canterbury and the whole Anglican episcopal bench to refute Charles's arguments: "Let me have a solid answer, and in a gentlemanlike style; and it may have the effect which you so much desire of bringing me over to your church." The Archbishop refused on the grounds of respect for the late king. [79] Rochester , once amongst James's supporters, turned against him by 1688, as did most Anglicans. James advocated repeal of the penal laws in all three of his kingdoms, but in the early years of his reign he refused to allow those dissenters who did not petition for relief to receive it.

[80] James sent a letter to the Scottish Parliament at its opening in 1685, declaring his wish for new penal laws against refractory Presbyterians and lamented that he was not there in person to promote such a law. In response, the Parliament passed an Act that stated, "whoever should preach in a conventicle under a roof, or should attend, either as preacher or as a hearer, a conventicle in the open air, should be punished with death and confiscation of property". [81] In March 1686, James sent a letter to the Scottish Privy Council advocating toleration for Catholics but that the persecution of the Presbyterian Covenanters should continue, calling them to London when they refused to acquiesce. [82] The Privy Councillors explained that they would grant relief to Catholics only if a similar relief was provided for the Covenanters and if James promised not to attempt anything that would harm the Protestant religion. James agreed to a degree of relief to Presbyterians, but not to the full toleration he wanted for Catholics, declaring that the Protestant religion was false and he would not promise not to prejudice a false religion.

[82] James allowed Catholics to occupy the highest offices of the Kingdoms, and received at his court the papal nuncio , Ferdinando d'Adda , the first representative from Rome to London since the reign of Mary I . [83] James's Jesuit confessor, Edward Petre , was a particular object of Protestant ire. [84] When the King's Secretary of State , the Earl of Sunderland , began replacing office-holders at court with Catholic favourites, James began to lose the confidence of many of his Anglican supporters. [85] Sunderland's purge of office-holders even extended to the King's Anglican brothers-in-law (the Hydes) and their supporters. [85] Catholics made up no more than one-fiftieth of the English population. [86] In May 1686, James sought to obtain a ruling from the English common-law courts that showed his power to dispense with Acts of Parliament was legal. He dismissed judges who disagreed with him on this matter, as well as the Solicitor General Heneage Finch . [87] The case, Godden v.

Hales, affirmed his dispensing power, [88] with eleven out of the twelve judges in Godden ruling in favour of the dispensing power. [89] In 1687, James issued the Declaration of Indulgence , also known as the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, in which he used his dispensing power to negate the effect of laws punishing Catholics and Protestant Dissenters . [90] He attempted to garner support for his tolerationist policy by giving a speaking tour in the West of England in the summer of 1687. As part of this tour, he gave a speech at Chester where he said, "suppose... there should be a law made that all black men should be imprisoned, it would be unreasonable and we had as little reason to quarrel with other men for being of different [religious] opinions as for being of different complexions." [91] At the same time, James provided partial toleration in Scotland, using his dispensing power to grant relief to Catholics and partial relief to Presbyterians.

[92] 1686 statue of James II in Trafalgar Square , London In 1688, James ordered the Declaration read from the pulpits of every Anglican church, further alienating the Anglican bishops against the Catholic governor of their church . [93] While the Declaration elicited some thanks from Catholics and dissenters, it left the Established Church, the traditional ally of the monarchy, in the difficult position of being forced to erode its own privileges. [93] James provoked further opposition by attempting to reduce the Anglican monopoly on education. [94] At the University of Oxford , James offended Anglicans by allowing Catholics to hold important positions in Christ Church and University College , two of Oxford's largest colleges. He also attempted to force the Protestant Fellows of Magdalen College to elect Anthony Farmer , a man of generally ill repute who was believed to be secretly Catholic, [95] as their president when the Protestant incumbent died, a violation of the Fellows' right to elect a candidate of their own choosing. [94] In 1687 James prepared to pack Parliament with his supporters so that it would repeal the Test Act and the penal laws.

James was convinced by addresses from Dissenters that he had their support and so could dispense with relying on Tories and Anglicans. James instituted a wholesale purge of those in offices under the crown opposed to James's plan, appointing new lords-lieutenant and remodelling the corporations governing towns and livery companies . [96] In October James gave orders for the lords-lieutenant in the provinces to provide three standard questions to all members of the Commission of the Peace : 1. Would they consent to the repeal of the Test Act and the penal laws? 2. Would they assist candidates who would do so? 3. Would they accept the Declaration of Indulgence? During the first three months of 1688, hundreds of those asked the three questions who gave hostile replies were dismissed. [97] Corporations were purged by agents, known as the regulators, who were given wide discretionary powers in an attempt to create a permanent royal electoral machine. [98] Most of the regulators were Baptists and the new town officials that they recommended included Quakers , Baptists , Congregationalists , Presbyterians and Catholics , as well as Anglicans .

[99] Finally, on 24 August 1688, James ordered the issue of writs for a general election . [100] However, upon realising in September that William of Orange was going to land in England, James withdrew the writs and subsequently wrote to the lords-lieutenant to inquire over allegations of abuses committed during the regulations and election preparations as part of the concessions James made to win support. [101] Glorious Revolution James's nephew and son-in-law, William , was invited to "save the Protestant religion". In April 1688, James re-issued the Declaration of Indulgence, subsequently ordering Anglican clergy to read it in their churches. [102] When seven Bishops , including the Archbishop of Canterbury , submitted a petition requesting the reconsideration of the King's religious policies, they were arrested and tried for seditious libel . [103] Public alarm increased when Queen Mary gave birth to a Roman Catholic son and heir, James Francis Edward , on 10 June that year.

[104] When James's only possible successors were his two Protestant daughters, Anglicans could see his pro-Catholic policies as a temporary phenomenon, but when the prince's birth opened the possibility of a permanent Catholic dynasty, such men had to reconsider their position. [105] Threatened by a Catholic dynasty, several influential Protestants claimed the child was "supposititious" and had been smuggled into the Queen's bedchamber in a warming pan. [106] They had already entered into negotiations with William, Prince of Orange, when it became known the Queen was pregnant, and the birth of James's son reinforced their convictions. [107] On 30 June 1688, a group of seven Protestant nobles invited the Prince of Orange to come to England with an army. [108] By September, it had become clear that William sought to invade. [109] Believing that his own army would be adequate, James refused the assistance of Louis XIV, fearing that the English would oppose French intervention.

[109] When William arrived on 5 November 1688, many Protestant officers, including Churchill , defected and joined William , as did James's own daughter, Princess Anne . [110] James lost his nerve and declined to attack the invading army, despite his army's numerical superiority. [111] On 11 December, James tried to flee to France, allegedly first throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames . [112] [113] He was captured in Kent ; later, he was released and placed under Dutch protective guard. Having no desire to make James a martyr, the Prince of Orange let him escape on 23 December. [112] James was received by his cousin and ally, Louis XIV, who offered him a palace and a pension. Engraving of Louis XIV greeting the exiled James II in 1689 William convened a Convention Parliament to decide how to handle James's flight. While the Parliament refused to depose him, they declared that James, having fled to France and dropped the Great Seal into the Thames, had effectively abdicated the throne, and that the throne had thereby become vacant.

[114] To fill this vacancy, James's daughter Mary was declared Queen; she was to rule jointly with her husband William, who would be king. The Parliament of Scotland on 11 April 1689, declared James to have forfeited the throne. [115] The English Parliament passed a Bill of Rights that denounced James for abusing his power. The abuses charged to James included the suspension of the Test Acts, the prosecution of the Seven Bishops for merely petitioning the crown, the establishment of a standing army, and the imposition of cruel punishments. [116] The Bill also declared that henceforth, no Roman Catholic was permitted to ascend the English throne, nor could any English monarch marry a Roman Catholic. [117] Later years War in Ireland With the assistance of French troops, James landed in Ireland in March 1689. [118] The Irish Parliament did not follow the example of the English Parliament; it declared that James remained King and passed a massive bill of attainder against those who had rebelled against him.

[119] At James's urging, the Irish Parliament passed an Act for Liberty of Conscience that granted religious freedom to all Roman Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. [120] James worked to build an army in Ireland, but was ultimately defeated at the Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690 when William arrived, personally leading an army to defeat James and reassert English control. [121] James fled to France once more, departing from Kinsale , never to return to any of his former kingdoms. [121] Because he deserted his Irish supporters, James became known in Ireland as Séamus an Chaca or "James the Shit". [122] [123] Despite this popular perception, Breandán Ó Buachalla argued that "Irish political poetry for most of the eighteenth century is essentially Jacobite poetry", [124] and both Ó Buachalla and Éamonn Ó Ciardha argued that James and his successors played a central role as messianic figures throughout the eighteenth century for all classes in Ireland.

[125] Return to exile and death The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye , James's home during his final exile In France, James was allowed to live in the royal château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . [126] James's wife and some of his supporters fled with him, including the Earl of Melfort ; most, but not all, were Roman Catholic. [127] In 1692, James's last child, Louisa Maria Teresa , was born. [128] Some supporters in England attempted to assassinate William III to restore James to the throne in 1696, but the plot failed and the backlash made James's cause less popular. [129] Louis XIV's offer to have James elected King of Poland in the same year was rejected, for James feared that acceptance of the Polish crown might (in the minds of the English people) render him incapable of being King of England. After Louis concluded peace with William in 1697, he ceased to offer much in the way of assistance to James. [130] During his last years, James lived as an austere penitent .

[131] He wrote a memorandum for his son advising him on how to govern England, specifying that Catholics should possess one Secretary of State, one Commissioner of the Treasury, the Secretary at War, with the majority of the officers in the army. [132] He died of a brain haemorrhage on 16 September 1701 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye . [133] [134] James's heart was placed in a silver-gilt locket and given to the convent at Chaillot , and his brain was placed in a lead casket and given to the Scots College in Paris. His entrails were placed in two gilt urns and sent to the parish church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the English Jesuit college at Saint-Omer , while the flesh from his right arm was given to the English Augustinian nuns of Paris. [135] James's body was laid to rest in a triple sarcophagus (consisting of two wooden coffins and one of lead) at the Chapel of Saint Edmund in the Church of the English Benedictines in the Rue St.

Jacques in Paris, with a funeral oration by Henri-Emmanuel de Roquette . [133] James was not buried, but put in one of the side chapels. Lights were kept burning round his coffin until the French Revolution . In 1734, the Archbishop of Paris heard evidence to support James's canonisation, but nothing came of it. [133] During the French Revolution, James's tomb was raided. [2] Succession James's son was known as "James III and VIII" to his supporters, and "The Old Pretender" to his enemies. James's younger daughter Anne succeeded to the throne when William III died in 1702. The Act of Settlement provided that, if the line of succession established in the Bill of Rights were extinguished, the crown would go to a German cousin, Sophia, Electress of Hanover , and to her Protestant heirs. [136] Sophia was a granddaughter of James VI and I through his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Stuart , the sister of King Charles I .

Thus, when Anne died in 1714 (less than two months after the death of Sophia), the crown was inherited by George I , Sophia's son, the Elector of Hanover and Anne's second cousin. [136] James's son James Francis Edward was recognised as King at his father's death by Louis XIV of France and James's remaining supporters (later known as Jacobites ) as "James III and VIII." [137] He led a rising in Scotland in 1715 shortly after George I's accession, but was defeated. [138] Jacobites rose again in 1745 led by Charles Edward Stuart , James II's grandson, and were again defeated. [139] Since then, no serious attempt to restore the Stuart heir has been made. Charles's claims passed to his younger brother Henry Benedict Stuart , the Dean of the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church. [140] Henry was the last of James II's legitimate descendants, and no relative has publicly acknowledged the Jacobite claim since his death in 1807. [141] Historiography Macaulay wrote in the Whig tradition.

Historical analysis of James II has been somewhat revised since Whig historians, led by Lord Macaulay , cast James as a cruel absolutist and his reign as "tyranny which approached to insanity". [142] Subsequent scholars, such as G. M. Trevelyan (Macaulay's great-nephew) and David Ogg , while more balanced than Macaulay, still characterised James as a tyrant, his attempts at religious tolerance as a fraud, and his reign as an aberration in the course of British history. [143] In 1892, A. W.

Ward wrote for the Dictionary of National Biography that James was "obviously a political and religious bigot", although never devoid of "a vein of patriotic sentiment"; "his conversion to the church of Rome made the emancipation of his fellow-catholics in the first instance, and the recovery of England for catholicism in the second, the governing objects of his policy." [144] Hilaire Belloc , a writer and Catholic apologist, broke with this tradition in 1928, casting James as an honourable man and a true advocate for freedom of conscience, and his enemies "men in the small clique of great fortunes ... which destroyed the ancient monarchy of the English." [145] However, he observed that James "concluded the Catholic church to be the sole authoritative voice on earth, and thenceforward ... he not only stood firm against surrender but on no single occasion contemplated the least compromise or by a word would modify the impression made." By the 1960s and 1970s, Maurice Ashley and Stuart Prall began to reconsider James's motives in granting religious toleration, while still taking note of James's autocratic rule.

[146] Modern historians have moved away from the school of thought that preached the continuous march of progress and democracy, Ashley contending that "history is, after all, the story of human beings and individuals, as well as of the classes and the masses." [147] He cast James II and William III as "men of ideals as well as human weaknesses." [147] John Miller, writing in 2000, accepted the claims of James's absolutism, but argued that "his main concern was to secure religious liberty and civil equality for Catholics. Any 'absolutist' methods ... were essentially means to that end." [148] In 2004, W. A. Speck wrote in the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography that "James was genuinely committed to religious toleration, but also sought to increase the power of the crown." [149] He added that, unlike the government of the Netherlands, "James was too autocratic to combine freedom of conscience with popular government. He resisted any check on the monarch's power. That is why his heart was not in the concessions he had to make in 1688.

He would rather live in exile with his principles intact than continue to reign as a limited monarch." [149] Belloc was a notable apologist for James II. Tim Harris's conclusions from his 2006 book summarised the ambivalence of modern scholarship towards James II: The jury will doubtless remain out on James for a long time ... Was he an egotistical bigot ... a tyrant who rode roughshod over the will of the vast majority of his subjects (at least in England and Scotland) ... simply naïve, or even perhaps plain stupid, unable to appreciate the realities of political power ... Or was he a well-intentioned and even enlightened ruler—an enlightened despot well ahead of his time, perhaps—who was merely trying to do what he thought was best for his subjects? [150] In 2009, Steven Pincus confronted that scholarly ambivalence in 1688: The First Modern Revolution. Pincus claims that James's reign must be understood within a context of economic change and European politics, and makes two major assertions about James II.

The first of these is that James purposefully "followed the French Sun King, Louis XIV, in trying to create a modern Catholic polity. This involved not only trying to Catholicize England ... but also creating a modern, centralizing, and extremely bureaucratic state apparatus." [151] The second is that James was undone in 1688 far less by Protestant reaction against Catholicization than by nationwide hostile reaction against his intrusive bureaucratic state and taxation apparatus, expressed in massive popular support for William of Orange's armed invasion of England. Pincus presents James as neither naïve nor stupid nor egotistical. Instead, readers are shown an intelligent, clear-thinking strategically motivated monarch whose vision for a French authoritarian political model and alliance clashed with, and lost out to, alternative views that favoured an entrepreneurial Dutch economic model, feared French power, and were outraged by James's authoritarianism. Scott Sowerby countered Pincus's thesis in 2013 in Making Toleration: The Repealers and the Glorious Revolution.

He noted that English taxes remained low during James II's reign, at about 4% of the English national income, and thus it was unlikely that James could have built a bureaucratic state on the model of Louis XIV's France, where taxes were at least twice as high as a proportion of GDP. [152] Sowerby also contends that James's policies of religious toleration attracted substantial support from religious nonconformists, including Quakers, Baptists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians, who were attracted by the king's push for a new "Magna Carta for liberty of conscience". [153] The king was overthrown, in Sowerby's view, largely because of fears among the Dutch and English elites that James might be aligning himself with Louis XIV in a supposed "holy league" to destroy Protestantism across northern Europe. [154] Sowerby presents James's reign as a struggle between those who believed that the king was sincerely devoted to liberty of conscience and those who were sceptical of the king's espousals of toleration and believed that he had a hidden agenda to overthrow English Protestantism.

Titles, styles, honours, and arms Titles and styles Half crown coin of James II, 1686 14 October 1633 – 6 February 1685: The Duke of York 10 May 1659 – 6 February 1685: The Earl of Ulster [9] 31 December 1660 – 6 February 1685: The Duke of Albany 6 February 1685 – 11 December 1688 (by Jacobites until 16 September 1701): His Majesty The King The official style of James in England was "James the Second, by the Grace of God, King of England , Scotland , France and Ireland , Defender of the Faith , etc." The claim to France was only nominal, and was asserted by every English King from Edward III to George III , regardless of the amount of French territory actually controlled.

In Scotland, he was "James the Seventh, by the Grace of God, King of Scotland, England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." [3] James was created " Duke of Normandy " by King Louis XIV of France on 31 December 1660. [9] Honours KG: Knight of the Garter , 20 April 1642 [9] Arms Prior to his accession, James's coat of arms was the royal arms (which he later inherited), differenced by a label of three points Ermine . [155] His arms as king 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 double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules ( for Scotland ); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent ( for Ireland ).

Coat of arms of James, Duke of York, KG Coat of arms of James II as king (outside Scotland) Coat of arms of King James VII in Scotland Issue Notes ^ a b An assertion found in many sources that James II died 6 September 1701 (17 September 1701 New Style ) may result from a miscalculation done by an author of anonymous "An Exact Account of the Sickness and Death of the Late King James II, as also of the Proceedings at St. Germains thereupon, 1701, in a letter from an English gentleman in France to his friend in London" ( Somers Tracts, ed. 1809–1815, XI, pp. 339–342).

The account reads: "And on Friday the 17th instant, about three in the afternoon, the king died, the day he always fasted in memory of our blessed Saviour's passion, the day he ever desired to die on, and the ninth hour, according to the Jewish account, when our Saviour was crucified." As 17 September 1701 New Style falls on a Saturday and the author insists that James died on Friday, "the day he ever desired to die on", an inevitable conclusion is that the author miscalculated the date, which later made it to various reference works. See "English Historical Documents 1660–1714", ed. by Andrew Browning (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), 136–138. ^ a b Miller, 240; Waller, 401; MacLeod, 349. MacLeod and Waller say all of James's remains were lost in the French Revolution. McFerran says parts of his bowel sent to the parish church of St. Germain-en-Laye were rediscovered in 1824 and are the only known remains left.

The English Illustrated Magazine s article on St. Germain from September 1901 concurs. Hilliam, 205. Hilliam disputes that his remains were either scattered or lost, stating that when revolutionaries broke into the church, they were amazed at the body's preservation and it was put on public exhibition where miracles were said to have happened. Hilliam states that the body was then kept "above ground" until George IV heard about it and ordered the body buried in the parish church of St Germain-en-Laye in 1824. McFerran, Noel S. (2003). "James II and VII." Ó Buachalla, Breandán (1996). Aisling Ghéar. Baile Átha Cliath: An Clóchomhar Tta. ISBN 0-903758-99-7 . Ó Ciardha, Éamonn (2002). Ireland and the Jacobite Cause, 1685–1766. Dublin: Four Courts. ISBN 1-85182-534-7 .

Pincus, Steven (2009). 1688: The First Modern Revolution. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11547-4 . Prall, Stuart (1972). The Bloodless Revolution: England, 1688. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books. Royle, Trevor (2004). The British Civil Wars: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms, 1638–1660. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-312-29293-7 . Sowerby, Scott (2013). Making Toleration: The Repealers and the Glorious Revolution. Cambridge, Mass., & London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-07309-8 . Speck, W. A. (2002). James II. Turner, Francis C. (1948). James II. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. Waller, Maureen (2002).

Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses who Stole Their Father's Crown. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-312-30711-X . Further reading DeKrey, Gary S. (2008). "Between Revolutions: Re-appraising the Restoration in Britain" History Compass 6 (3): 738–773. Earle, Peter (1972). The Life and Times of James II. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Glassey, Lionel, ed. (1997). The Reigns of Charles II and James VII and II. Goodlad, Graham (2007). "Before the Glorious Revolution: The Making of Absolute Monarchy? Graham Goodlad Examines the Controversies Surrounding the Development of Royal Power under Charles II and James II" History Review 58: 10 ff. in Questia Miller, John (1997). The Glorious Revolution, 2nd ed. ISBN 0-582-29222-0 . Miller, John (2004). The Stuarts.

Mullett, M. (1993). James II and English Politics 1678–1688. ISBN 0-415-09042-3 . Ogg, David (1957). England in the Reigns of James II and William III, 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press. External links "At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 Cooper’s reputation as the foremost artist in England secured him the patronage of the returned royal family, to which he responded with an enriched style. His flesh painting became more full bodied, noticeably so to contemporaries such as Samuel Pepys, who thought ‘the colouring of the flesh to be a little forced’. Today, albeit with fading, this portrait of the Duke of York does not seem unnaturally sanguine. Overall the effect is less austere than Cooper’s style during the Commonwealth period, the lighting less dramatic and so the relief of the sitter’s features is less marked. Its softer, lighter style, however, does not lessen the dignity and presence of the sitter.

The Duke particularly retains a serious reserve appropriate for the second son of the ‘martyred’ Charles I." ✹ • Link The duke of York, though he had a quick relish for pleasure, followed business with that closeness of application which the king his brother wanted; and wanted himself that quickness of apprehension, that natural sagacity and apparent benevolence of temper, which was so conspicuous in the king. His notions of government were as erroneous as those of his father and grandfather; and the large steps which his brother took towards arbitrary power, were in a great measure owing to his instigation. He was, what rarely happens, revengeful and valiant almost in the same degree; and displayed such courage in the first Dutch war, as rendered him more popular than all the other acts of his life. His bigotry to the Roman Catholic religion, which was still encreasing with his years, had the strongest influence upon his conduct; and at length prompted him to such measures as were condemned by the sober and judicious of all religions. ---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779. ✹

Question: Who is the Duke of York?
Answer: Prince Andrew