Mary
of Modena
1658-1718
King James II of England was a Catholic king
ruling over a Protestant country. In 1673, he married
Mary of Modena, the only daughter of Duke Alfonso
IV of Modena. She was Catholic too and
had originally intended to enter a convent, but now she became
Queen of England instead.
James'
strongly pro-Catholic policies made the royal family unpopular. When
their son James Francis Edward was born in 1688, it put another
Catholic next
in line to the throne. This was the last straw for the Protestants who
ran Parliament, so they invited the King's oldest daughter by a
previous marriage, Mary, to take
over England. She was a reliable
Protestant married to the Protestant Prince William
of Orange from the Netherlands. He brought along the Dutch army so no
one would get in his way. Then Parliament passed laws forbidding
any goddam Catholic from ever again ruling England.
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