This royal person dominated immediately in three countries as co-ruler of her husband, being the queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. They named it after the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart. She was raised in the Anglican faith, which played an important role in her fate. We will tell about the life and reign of Mary II in our article.
Origin
Maria was born in 1662 in a royal family. Her father was the Duke of York, the future English, as well as the Scottish and Irish king - James II Stuart. He was the son of Charles I, the brother of Charles II and the grandson of Jacob I. Her mother is the first wife of her father - Anna Hyde, daughter of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.
In total, the family had eight children, but only Maria and Anna, her younger sister, survived to adulthood. In the future, Anna also became the queen of the three countries mentioned above and the last representative of the Stuart dynasty on the English throne.
The birth of Mary was the reign of Charles II, her uncle. His adviser was her grandfather, Edward Hyde. Due to the fact that Karl did not have legal offspring, the princess was in second place in the line of heirs to the throne after her father.
early years
In St. James's Palace, in his Royal Chapel, the girl was baptized in the Anglican faith. Around 1669, her father, who had experienced pressure from his wife, was converted to Catholicism. Mother herself replaced the faith eight years before. But neither Mary nor Anna did this, and both were brought up in the bosom of the Church of England. That was the desire of their crowned uncle Charles II.
On his orders, to relieve the girls of the influence of their mother and father, who became Catholics, they were transferred to the Richmond Palace under the supervision of a governess. The life of princesses proceeded in isolation from the outside world. Only sometimes were they allowed to visit their parents and maternal grandfather. Private teachers taught Mary. The circle of her education cannot be called wide. It included the French language, religious education, music, dancing, drawing.
In 1671, the mother of the princess died, and her father two years later married a second time to the Catholic Mary of Modena, who was only four years older than the girl. The latter quickly became close to her stepmother, unlike Princess Anne.
Before wedding
When the future Queen Mary II turned 15, she became engaged to her cousin, Prince of Orange. At that time he was a gallant in the Netherlands. As the son of Mary Stuart, he also “stood in line” on the English throne under the fourth number. In addition to the heirs already mentioned, Anna was in front of him.
At first, the king opposed this marriage, since his plans were to marry the princess to Louis, the French dauphin. Thus, he wanted to unite both kingdoms. But under pressure from the parliament, which considered that an alliance with Catholic France was irrelevant, he approved the alliance.
The Duke of York, in turn, succumbed to the pressure of the king and only after that gave his consent. As for the girl herself, she, learning about who she should marry, cried all day.
Marriage
In 1677, the tearful Mary and the Prince of Orange married and left for the Netherlands, in The Hague. Contrary to expectations, the marriage was quite strong. He was enthusiastically received both in Holland and in Great Britain, and Mary fell to the Dutch court. She was very devoted to her husband, who was absent for a long time, undertaking many military campaigns. When William was in the city of Breda, the princess had a miscarriage. Subsequently, she could not have children, which greatly overshadowed her family life.
Rise to power
In 1688, a glorious revolution broke out in England, as a result of which the father of the Dutch princess Jacob II was overthrown, because of which he was forced to flee to France. After that, Parliament called to power William III and his wife as co-rulers. That is, none of them was a consort, and both ruled as monarchs and were heirs to each other.
Meanwhile, Jacob II had a son, the Prince of Wales, who was removed from the throne. Mary II officially declared the child a foundling, and not her brother. In February, the Dutch couple was declared rulers of England and Ireland, and in April and Scotland.
On the throne
During the joint reign of William III and his wife, in 1689, the Bill of Rights was issued, and the British legal system was improved.
The king was often absent from England, as he fought in Ireland with Jacob's supporters, the Jacobites, or with Louis XIV, the French king, on the continent. In addition, he visited his native Netherlands, remaining the ruler there.
In such cases, Mary II took the reins of power and made important decisions. So, for example, on her orders her uncle, Lord Clarendon, was arrested, who organized a conspiracy in favor of the disgraced king Jacob.
In 1692, the Queen, (probably also in the Jacobite case) was imprisoned the 1st Duke of Marlborough - John Churchill. He was a famous statesman and commander. In addition to the above, the ruler took an active part in matters of appointment to church posts. Maria died at the age of 33, contracting smallpox. The husband became her sole successor.