Princess Mary of Modena Daughter of James II 1658 1718
Mary of Modena (Mary Beatrice Eleanor Anne Margaret Isabel; born Este; later Queen Mary of England, Scotland and Ireland; 5 October 1658 – 7 May 1718) was queen consort to James II of England. The marriage had urgent dynastic and political aspects. James had two Protestant daughters, Mary and Anne, from his first marriage to Anne Hyde. A son by James's second marriage would be king one day, a Roman Catholic king. Though Mary was beautiful and charming — Charles II quickly came round to her — the people of England disliked her for her Roman Catholicism. She was lampooned in broadsheets under the name "Madame East." Rumours spread that she was an agent of the pope, Clement X, who had pressed her case as a suitable bride. During the "Popish Plot" (1678), in which her secretary, Coleman, was involved, she and James discreetly went abroad. Their first male child was stillborn (1674), and numerous others died in infancy or early childhood. Following James's accession to the throne in 1685, the question of whether Mary would ever bear a son became more significant, because such a child would be brought up in the Roman Catholic faith and would be heir to the throne. In 1688, Mary finally gave birth to a living son, James. The event caused much speculation. It was suggested that the child had been born dead and a changeling smuggled into the room in a warming pan in order to conceal the death, or that the Queen had never actually been with child. Broadsheets depicting the queen stuffing pillows into her gown or cuckolding her husband with her confessor were common. For political reasons, a royal birth was a very public event, and many people would have had to be privy to this unlikely conspiracy. Nevertheless the rumours were disquieting enough that James called two extraordinary sessions of his Privy Council to hear testimony proving that the young Prince of Wales was his son by the Queen, though James's daughters disputed the child's legitimacy.
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Photo credit: © 19th era / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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