The Fall of Britain’s Last Catholic Monarch

The Glorious Revolution and the end of Catholic dominance in England

(By Peter Lely — Scanned from the book The National Portrait Gallery History of the Kings and Queens of England by David Williamson, ISBN 1855142287., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6639836)

Great Britain hasn’t had a Catholic monarch in 337 years. After ruling the country for centuries, Catholicism died in England after the Glorious Revolution. Catholicism was replaced with a militant Protestantism, which eventually leaked into the New World via English settlers. So who was the last Catholic monarch of Great Britain, and what happened to them? How did the Glorious Revolution bring an end to entrenched Catholicism within the country?

In the Seventeenth Century, Great Britain was roiled by a religious split that was fracturing the country. The nation was divided between the old Catholic establishment and a new wave of Protestantism. There were also competing political forces of monarchism and republicanism, which attached themselves to the religious split. The monarch at the time was confusingly named James II and James VII. He was James II as King of England and Ireland and James VII as King of Scotland.

James’s reign was marred by continuous upheaval. He quickly faced two rebellions—one in Southern England, the heartland of monarchical power, and one in Scotland. The rebellions were put down, but the uprisings only betrayed the existence of roiling discontent that was bubbling under the…