Flight of the Queen of James II, from "Illustrated London News"
Engraver Richard Principal Leitch British
After Alexander Johnston British, Scottish
Subject Mary of Modena, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland British, Italian
Not on view
Mary of Modena, James II's queen, prepares here to leave England for France with her infant son, Prince James Francis Edward Stuart. Her husband has already fled before the advance of William of Orange (the latter soon to be crowned William III with his wife Mary II (daughter of James II by his first marriage). This dramatic change would be dubbed the "Glorious Revolution" and ensured the succession of a Protestant monarch in Britain. In December 1688, as the queen left Whitehall Palace, London was gripped with anti-Catholic fever, so she huddles in fear beside the tower of St. Mary's Church at Lambeth as a carriage is prepared to take her to a yacht at Gravesend. Related text in the "Illustrated London News" states: "Some time elapsed however, before the horses were harnessed. Mary, afraid that she might be recognised, would not enter the house. She remained with her child standing for shelter...under the tower of Lambeth Church, and distracted with terror whenever the ostler approached her with his lantern."
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