Overview
William III was born in Holland to William II of Orange, and Mary, the daughter of England’s Charles I. As such, he was fourth in line to the British throne. In 1672 he became Stadtholder, or ruler, of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
In 1672 Louis XIV, King of France, and Charles II, King of England (William’s uncle) jointly declared war on the Netherlands, and invaded. After several difficult years, William managed to drive them out and force them to make peace.
In 1677, adding to the already tangled royal family tree, William married his cousin Mary, the daughter of James, Duke of York. Mary had been raised a Protestant, but both her parents were converts to Catholicism. Although Mary went to live with William in Holland, the marriage gave William a lot of importance in England.
Mary’s father James was crowned King of England in 1685. As a Roman Catholic, King James angered his Protestant subjects with his dictatorial ways and pro-Roman Catholic policies. By 1687, many of them were urging William to intervene. The following year, James had a son, and the people of England became even more worried, as there was now the possibility of a Roman Catholic succession.
The opponents of King James sent an invitation to William to invade England. Mary felt it her religious duty to support her husband rather than her father James, and she agreed to stand behind William’s invasion.
A little over four months later, William and his army landed in Devon. They rode almost unchallenged to London. King James fled to France before they could reach him, and the government declared that he had abdicated. This was known as the ‘Glorious Revolution’.
Mary arrived in England two months later and members of the government proposed that she become the sole ruler of the country. However she rejected these proposals, wanting instead to rule with her husband. The vacant throne was then offered to William and Mary jointly.
The couple were crowned on 21 April 1689, and they ruled together, sharing authority. They were popular with their subjects, and their tastes influenced English decorative arts so much that the era’s new look in design was named William and Mary style.
Unfortunately, Mary never settled down happily to life in England, and was always troubled by her estrangement from her deposed father. She died at thirty-two from smallpox. William, a reserved man, became more withdrawn after the shock of her death. His health began to fail and he died in 1702, eight years after Mary.
Text originally published in Tai Awatea, Te Papa's onfloor multimedia database (1998).