The end of the Stuarts

James II was deposed (thrown out) mainly because he was a Catholic. The Protestant William and Mary took his place, but James always hoped to return. At first, there seemed a good chance that he would succeed, for he got help from King Louis XIV of France. So Parliament agreed to taxes to pay for a war with France. And it passed a law which said that no Catholic could be king or queen of England.

William and Mary had no children. When William died in 1702, the last Protestant Stuart, Mary's sister Anne, became queen. Anne had eleven children, but they all died young. So there was no Protestant Stuart heir when Anne died in 1714.

In the time of Queen Anne, the Whigs and Tories were at odds again. Both sides wanted power for themselves, as the queen's ministers. They quarrelled about the war with France, which was still going on. And they fought about the succession - who should be king when Queen Anne died?

Some Tories would have liked James Edward Stuart (James II's son) on the throne. But the law said the king must be a Protestant, and James Edward was a Catholic. The Whigs wanted the Protestant George, elector (ruler) of Hanover in Germany, and got their way. When Anne died, 'German George' became king.

A few Tories would have liked the Stuarts to return. (People on the side of the Stuarts were called Jacobites at that time.) There were Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745, and they had some success in Scotland. But in England, the Protestant Hanovers, with their Whig ministers, were firmly in control.

Walter Robson: Crown, Parliament and People; Oxford University Press, 1992/2002, page 54 f.