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Mary II ( 30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689 until her death, and Queen of Scotland from 11 April 1689 until her death. Mary, a Protestant, came to the Throne following the Glorious Revolution, during which her Roman Catholic father, James II, was deposed. Mary reigned jointly with her husband and first cousin, William III, who became the sole ruler upon her death. The joint reign is usually known as that of " William and MaryThe phrase William and Mary usually refers to the joint sovereignty over the Kingdoms of England and Scotland of King William III and his wife Queen Mary II. Their reign commenced with the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Mary died in 1694 after which William." Mary, although a Sovereign in her own right, did not wield actual power during most of her reign. She did, however, govern the realm when her husband was abroad fighting wars.

1 Early life

Mary, who was born in LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri, was the eldest daughter of the Duke of York (the future James II) and his first wife, the Lady Anne Hyde. Mary's uncle was Charles IICharles II ( 29 May 1630 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 30 January 1649 de jure or 29 May 1660 de facto until his death. Charles II's father, Charles I, had been executed in 1649 following the English Civil War; the mo; her maternal grandfather, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of ClarendonEdward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon ( February 18, 1609 December 9, 1674), English historian and statesman. Hyde was the third son of Henry Hyde of Dinton, Wiltshire, a member of a family for some time established at Norbury, Cheshire. He entered Magdalen, was Charles's chief advisor. Although her parents bore eight children, Mary and her younger sister AnneAnne ( 6 February 1665 1 August 1714), became Queen of England and Scotland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, when England and Scotland combined into a single Kingdom, Anne became the first Sovereign of Great Britain. She continued to reign until her death. were the only ones to survive into adulthood.

The Duke of York converted to Roman Catholicism in 1668Events January The Triple Alliance of 1668 is formed. February 13 Lisbon Peace Treaty between Afonso VI of Portugal and Carlos II of Spain, by mediation of Charles II of England where it is recognized the legitimity of the portuguese monarch. Portugal yie or 1669Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. The Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb destroys several Hindu temples and banned the whole religion, so Hindus rebel. Antonio Stradivari makes his first violin Famine in Bengal kills 3 million people The Hanseatic Leagu, but Mary and Anne were brought up in the Protestant faith, pursuant to the command of Charles II. Mary's mother died in 1671; her father married again in 1673, his second wife being the Catholic Mary of Modena. Mary was, at the age of fifteen, betrothed to the Protestant Stadtholder and Prince of Orange, William III. At first, Charles II opposed the alliance with a Dutch ruler—he preferred that Mary marry the heir to the French Throne, the Dauphin Louis—but afterwards approved, as a coalition with the Dutch became more politically favourable. Pressured by Parliament, the Duke of York agreed to the marriage, falsely assuming that it would improve his popularity amongst Protestants. Mary and William—who were first cousins—were married in London on 4 November 1677.

Mary went to the Netherlands, where she lived with her husband. Her marriage was an unhappy one; her three pregnancies ended in miscarriage or stillbirth. She was popular with the Dutch people, but was neglected—even mistreated—by her husband. William maintained a long affair with Elizabeth Villiers, one of Mary's ladies-in-waiting.





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