WHAT IF...JAMES II AND VII HAD KEPT HIS THRONE?

Nige Tassell asks Professor Ted Vallance about the future of both monarchy and state religion had James II and VII not been usurped in 1688

- Nige Tassell

In late 1688, King James II of England and Ireland, James VII of Scotland, saw his near-four-year reign drift to an end, I after which he disappeared into exile. Replacing him on the throne were his son-in-law William III of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Republic, and William's wife, James's daughter Mary II. In England, the change in monarchs, known as the Glorious Revolution, was achieved with little bloodshed. James chose to disband his army, allowing William and his troops, having landed in Devon, to make their way to London relatively unimpeded.

It might have been a largely peaceful surrender of power, but it was a significant one, too. William and Mary's joint reign broke the notion of the divine right of kings by introducing a 'contract' between the monarchy and the people, as represented by Parliament. James, in contrast, had favoured a tighter concentration of power within one individual: himself. Had James repelled William and Mary's invasion, what kind of monarchy might have developed under him?