Bloodless Revolution
The Prince of Orange lands at Torbay
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| Date | 1688–1689 |
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| Location | British Isles |
| Also known as | Revolution of 1688 War of the English Succession Bloodless Revolution |
| Participants | English, Welsh and Scottish society, Dutch forces |
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The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III, Prince of Orange, who was James's nephew and son-in-law. William's successful invasion of England with a Dutch fleet and army led to his ascension to the throne as William III of England jointly with his wife, Mary II, James's daughter, after the Declaration of Right, leading to the Bill of Rights 1689.
King James's policies of religious tolerance after 1685 met with increasing opposition from members of leading political circles, who were troubled by the King's Catholicism and his close ties with France. The crisis facing the King came to a head in 1688, with the birth of his son, James, on 10 June (Julian calendar). This changed the existing line of succession by displacing the heir presumptive (his 26-year-old daughter Mary, a Protestant and the wife of William of Orange) with young James as heir apparent. The establishment of a Roman Catholic dynasty in the kingdoms now seemed likely. Some Tory members of parliament worked with members of the opposition Whigs in an attempt to resolve the crisis by secretly initiating dialogue with William of Orange to come to England, outside the jurisdiction of the English Parliament. Stadtholder William, the de facto head of state of the Dutch United Provinces, feared a Catholic Anglo–French alliance and had already been planning a military intervention in England.
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