This England

Opinions about King James II
were mixed in his lifetime and
have remained divided ever
since. One of his friends and supporters,
Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury,
wrote in his memoirs, “I do affirm that
he was the most honest and sincere
man I ever knew: a great and good
Englishman, and a high protector of
trade, and had nothing so much at heart
as the glory and strength of the fleet and
navy.” Yet the Victorian historian Henry
Buckle in his History of Civilisation in
England (1857) wrote, “It makes one’s
flesh creep to think that such a man
should have been the ruler of millions,”
calling James II both “a disgrace” and
“a slur on the age.” Others concur that
he would have made an excellent King
of France or Spain, but did not quite suit
the England in which he lived.
Some historians consider him to
have been a very weak man, and diarist
Samuel Pepys wrote of him, “The Duke
of York, in all things but his amours, is
led by the nose of his wife.” But overall
he appears to have been a man of
considerable contrasts. If an ineffectual
King, he was nevertheless a brave soldier.
He was married twice and had many
mistresses, yet was a religious zealot. He
believed firmly in the Divine Right of
Kings, but too easily gave up his crown.
James II was born at St. James’s
Palace in London at midnight on 14th
October 1633, the second surviving son
of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and
the brother of Charles II. He was called
Duke of York from birth, and in 1642
was made a Knight of the Garter. He
later became Earl of Ulster and Duke of
Normandy. Unusually, he was appointed
Lord High Admiral at the age of three,
which was an honorary title! He did,
however, take on the role in a practical
way as an adult.
He was educated by private tutors
but, as he grew older, it was said that he
was not hugely intelligent or witty, and
lacked the charm of his brother Charles.
He had a fair complexion as a youth
and grew to be very tall, once described
as being “two yards high”. Paintings
show him regally dressed and with an
elaborately curled periwig as an adult.
Even if depicted wearing armour, he
would still be swathed with sashes and
cloaks.
James II
(1685-1688)
James’s education was curtailed by
the Civil War, which came to dominate
his childhood. He was with his father at
the Battle of Edgehill, and was almost
killed when a cannonball missed him
by inches. For his own safety James
was sent to live in Oxford, which was
a Royalist stronghold, but following a
siege there in 1646 he was moved to St.
James’s Palace.
Instead of being a home, however,
his birthplace became a virtual prison.
James managed to escape in 1648 with
the help of an Irish colonel called Joseph
Bampfield. He was eventually smuggled
out of the country and taken to The
Hague disguised as a young girl to avoid
detection.
By the age of 19 he had begun to
serve in the French army and became a
Lieutenant-General. He was given his
own Regiment of York, and experienced
military combat in the War of Fronde, a
French civil war, receiving praise for his
apparent lack of fear. He later said that
being part of the French army was the
happiest of times for him.
Following the execution of Charles
I in 1649, and with England under the
control of Oliver Cromwell, James’s
elder brother Charles attempted to claim
the throne that was rightfully his. When
Charles turned to Spain for help, the
brothers were suddenly at odds. Spain
was an enemy of France and James felt
strongly that their loyalty should be to
France. When it became known that
Charles had allied himself with Spain,
James was expelled from the French
army.
With his younger brother, Henry,
James travelled to Bruges, and
eventually joined the Spanish army. In
a twist of fate, he then found himself
fighting unwillingly against French
soldiers at the Battle of Dunes, soldiers
who had once been his friends. In
1659 there was a truce between France
and Spain, but by this time James
had developed a closer bond with the
Spanish and was even offered the post
of admiral in their navy. But everything
was to change for the Stuarts when his
brother was restored to the throne as
King Charles II in 1660.
James was now heir presumptive,
although it seemed unlikely that he
would ever inherit the throne. Charles
was married and it was assumed that he
would father heirs of his own to succeed.
As it happened, Charles had numerous
children with a variety of mistresses, but
no legitimate heir.
In the year that the monarchy was
restored James married Anne Hyde,
who was the daughter of the King’s chief
minister Edward Hyde. She and James
had been little more than a dalliance
in the previous year, but when she
revealed that she was expecting a child,
the couple agreed to marry. This did not
go down well with King Charles or his
court. As a commoner, Anne was not
considered to be a suitable bride for a
royal Duke.
James refused to acquiesce and
married Anne secretly at Breda,
Holland. Once the deed was done and
there was no going back, James told his
family of the ceremony. Consequently,
James and Anne were given a second,
12 THIS ENGLAND, Winter, 2017