King James II (1633-1701) by Grinling Gibbons 1686

            P1020198
This is a companion piece to the statue of Charles II, made by Grinling Gibbons, a statue which stands in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

James II was the second son of Charles I and younger brother of Charles II. He acceded to the throne at the age of 51 in 1685, in spite of being a Catholic, on the death of his brother King Charles II. His Roman Catholic faith was met with an increased resistence from the Protestant Establishment in England and the advent of an heir in 1688 prompted his removal from the throne by his son-in-law, William of Orange and his daughter Mary - an event known as "The Glorious Revolution" This brought in the "Clause of Exclusion" which does not allow a Roman catholic to be a Monarch", a clause which is still valid today.

It is ironic to think that this course of events took place as a result of James's  having a catholic male heir,when one thinks that Charles II had  male sons by his various Protestant mistresses, which were not recognised in the line of succession.  One of Charles's mistresses was Nell Gwynne, who was threatenned in London by the Protestant mob mistaking her for Louise de Keroualle, the Catholic miistress of Charles II, is known to have pacified the crowd saying: "Pray good people, be kind to me: I am the protestant whore".

James spent his youth as an exile in France where he fought for the French army and again after fleeing England in 1688 he settled in first in Ireland and then in France where he died.

Taken on: November 11, 2007

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Camera: Panasonic DMC-FX30, f/5.6, 1/50 sec, 16.4mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DMC-FX30
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	16.4mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	QuickTime 7.2
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