I reigned as Queen of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689 until my death in 1694, and as Queen of Scotland (as Mary II of Scotland) from 11 April 1689 until my death. I, a Protestant, came to the throne following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of my Catholic father, James II. I reigned jointly with my husband and first cousin, William III, who became the sole ruler upon my death. Although a sovereign in my own right, I did not wield power during most of my reign. I did, however, govern the realm when my husband was abroad fighting wars.
I was born in London, and was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York (the future James II of England) and of his first wife, Lady Anne Hyde. My uncle was King Charles II; my maternal grandfather, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, served for a lengthy period as Charles's chief advisor. Although my mother bore eight children, only myself and my younger sister Anne survived into adulthood. My father converted to Roman Catholicism in 1668 or 1669, but Anne and I had a Protestant upbringing, pursuant to the command of Charles II. My mother died in 1671; my father married again in 1673, taking as his second wife the Catholic Mary of Modena, also known as Mary Beatrice d'Este. At the age of fifteen, I became betrothed to the Protestant Stadtholder and Prince of Orange, William III. William was the son of my aunt, Mary, Princess Royal, and Prince William II of Nassau. I was twelve years younger than he and found him absolutely repulsive. He was asthmatic and slightly hunchbacked as well as reserved and tacturn. It was hardly an attractive prospect, needless to say I wept for two days. At first, Charles II opposed the alliance with a Dutch ruler — he preferred that I 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, my father agreed to the marriage, falsely assuming that it would improve his popularity amongst Protestants. William and I were married in London on 4 November 1677. I went to the Netherlands, where I lived with my husband. I did not enjoy a happy marriage; my three pregnancies ended in miscarriage. I became popular with the Dutch people, but my husband neglected and mistreated me. William long maintained an affair with Elizabeth Villiers, one of my ladies-in-waiting.
Upon the death of my uncle without legitimate issue in 1685, my father became King. He had a controversial religious policy; his attempt to grant freedom of religion to non-Anglicans was not well-received, as the technique he chose was to annul acts of Parliament by royal decree. Several Protestant politicians and noblemen entered into negotiations with my husband as early as 1687. After my father took the suicidal step of forcing Anglican clergymen to read the Declaration of Indulgence—the proclamation granting religious liberty to dissenters—from their churches in May 1688, his unpopularity soared. Public alarm increased when my stepmother, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a son—James Francis Edward—in June 1688, for the son would, unlike myself and Anne, be raised a Roman Catholic. Some charged that the boy was "supposititious", having been secretly brought in as a substitute for the Queen's stillborn baby. Although there was no evidence to support the allegation, I publicly challenged the boy's legitimacy, leading to a breach with my father.
On 30 June, the Immortal Seven secretly requested that William and I come to England with an army. At first, William was reluctant; he was jealous of my position as the heiress to the English Crown and feared that I would become more powerful than he was. However, I convinced my husband that I cared not for political power. William agreed to invade; his intentions became public knowledge by September 1688, and the Dutch army landed on 5 November. The English people's confidence in my father stood so low that they did not attempt to save their King. On 11 December, my defeated father attempted to flee, but was intercepted. A second attempt at flight (23 December) was successful.
In 1689, a Convention Parliament summoned by the Prince of Orange assembled, and much discussion relating to the appropriate course of action ensued. My husband felt insecure about his position; he wished to reign as a King, rather than function as a mere consort of a Queen. The only precedent for a joint monarchy dated from the sixteenth century: when Queen Mary I married the Spanish Prince Philip, it was agreed that the latter would take the title of King. But Philip II remained King only during his wife's lifetime, and restrictions were placed on his power. William, however, demanded that he remain King even after my death. Although some prominent statesmen proposed to make me the sole ruler, I, remaining loyal to my husband, refused.
On 13 February 1689, Parliament passed the Declaration of Right, in which it deemed that my father, by attempting to flee on 11 December 1688, had abdicated the government of the realm, and that the Throne had thereby become vacant. Parliament offered the Crown not to my father's eldest son, James Francis Edward (who would have been the heir-apparent under normal circumstances), but to William and I as joint Sovereigns. It was, however, provided that "the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the names of the said Prince and Princess during our joint lives."
The Bishop of London, Henry Compton, crowned William and I together at Westminster Abbey on 11 April 1689. Normally, the Archbishop of Canterbury performs coronations, but the Archbishop at the time, William Sancroft, refused to recognise my father's removal. On the day of the coronation, the Convention of the Estates of Scotland — which was much more divided than the English Parliament — finally declared that my father was no longer King of Scotland. William and I were offered the Scottish Crown; we accepted on 11 May.
I enjoyed great popularity, but continued to be deeply troubled by my estrangement from my deposed father. I died of smallpox at the age of 32 and my childlessness again threw open the question of the succession. It was settled by passing it initially to my sister Anne, before falling onto the James I's granddaughter, Sophia of Hanover and, ultimately, her son George, who eventually became King George I.