Mary II

Mary II,

1662–94, queen of England, wife of William IIIWilliam III,
1650–1702, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689–1702); son of William II, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and of Mary, oldest daughter of King Charles I of England.
..... Click the link for more information. . The daughter of James II by his first wife, Anne Hyde, she was brought up a Protestant despite her father's adoption of Roman Catholicism. In 1677 she married her cousin William of Orange and went with him to Holland. She returned to England after the Glorious RevolutionGlorious Revolution,
in English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of William III and Mary II to the English throne. It is also called the Bloodless Revolution.
..... Click the link for more information. of 1688 and was proclaimed joint sovereign with her husband in 1689, though she actually ruled only during his absences. Although she was relatively popular with the Dutch and English peoples, she led an unhappy life because of the political conflicts between her husband, her father, and her sister Anne. She sided faithfully with her husband.

Bibliography

See biographies by H. W. Chapman (1953, repr. 1972) and E. Hamilton (1972); R. P. MacCubbin and M. Hamilton-Phillips, ed., The Age of William III and Mary II (1988).

Mary II

1662--94, queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689--94), ruling jointly with her husband William III. They were offered the crown by parliament, which objected to the arbitrary rule of her father James II