'He spoke little and very slowly... except in a day of battle, for then he was all fire ...he was everywhere and looked to everything.'
Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, on William III

WILLIAM III (1689-1702) AND MARY II (1689-94)
WILLIAM OF ORANGE WAS the son of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, daughter of Charles I. Though stooped and asthmatic, the Dutch ruler was tough and shrewd, trained from boyhood for state affairs. Lively as a young man, he grew more stiffly reserved with age but was fond of his wife Mary, the young cousin he had married in 1677 when she was only 15. Mary, daughter of James II and Anne Hyde, had wept bitterly at the prospect of marrying a Dutchman she had never met, but performed her royal duty placidly. She was a gentle soul, given to good works and liked by all.

William and Mary's arrival in 1688 as joint monarchs was confirmed by Convention Parliaments in England and Scotland -in other words, the monarchy had now become a Parliamentary institution. Apart from isolated protests (in Scotland, the Glencoe massacre of 1692 was a punishment for Macdonald slowness in swearing allegiance to the new king), the transition was peaceful - a 'Glorious Revolution' in the eyes of its supporters.

William's mission was in mainland Europe, where as champion of 'small-nation Protestantism' he worked to sustain a coalition against Louis XIV of France, and had led armies with some success. Popular among the ordinary English, the taciturn king was disliked by most of the nobility.

When Mary died from smallpox in 1694, William was distressed - 'you know what it is to have a good wife,' he told a friend. The couple were childless and, with no idea of remarrying, the king planned to make Mary's sister Anne his heir (the Act of Settlement in 1701 stipulating that future monarchs must be Protestant). He also planned to send the Duke of Marlborough as commander of the coalition army against the French. William died after an accident at Hampton Court; his horse caught its hoof in a molehill, the king fell, and he died on 19 March 1702. James II's supporters afterwards toasted the 'velvet-coated gentleman' [the mole].

ANNE (1702-14)
Anne duly inherited the throne at the age of 36. Resolutely ordinary, she was a devout Anglican who favoured the Tory party (more monarchical) above the Whigs (inclined towards the aristocracy as a balance to royal power). The queen's best friend was Sarah Jennings, wife of John Churchill - first Duke of Marlborough and England's most brilliant general - whose victories at Blenheim, Oudenarde, Ramillies and Malplaquet were hailed with patriotic fervour.

Anne's marriage to Prince George of Denmark (of whom Charles II had remarked,'I have tried him drunk and tried him sober, but there is nothing in him either way,') produced 17 children who all died in infancy or early childhood. The main event of her reign was the union of England and Scotland under one Parliament in 1707.

RECEIVING THE CROWN
William and Mary are presented with the crown; new crown jewels had been made for Charles II as most of the old ones were destroyed during the Commonwealth.



MESSAGE FROM MARLBOROUGH
The Duke of Marlborough signs a despatch to his wife Sarah with news of his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.



«... a clear harmonious voice, particularly conspicuous in her graceful delivery of her speeches to Parliament.'
History of the Life and Reign of Queen Anne, Abel Boyer, 1702

QUEEN ANNE BY KNELLER
Sir Godfrey Kneller'$ portrait of Anne shows her in robes of state. The queen suffered almost constant ill-health; her favourite pastimes were cards, tea parties and admiring gardens.