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Mary of Modena

Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena Pietersz.jpg
Portrait by Simon Pietersz Verelst, 1680
Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland
Tenure 6 February 1685 – 11 December 1688
Coronation 23 April 1685
Born (1658-10-05)5 October 1658
Ducal Palace, Modena, Duchy of Modena and Reggio
Died 7 May 1718(1718-05-07) (aged 59)
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris, France
Burial Convent of the Visitations, Chaillot, France
Spouse James II of England
Issue
among others
Full name
Italian: Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este
House Este
Father Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena
Mother Laura Martinozzi
Religion Roman Catholicism
Full name
Italian: Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este

Mary of Modena (Italian: Maria di Modena) (Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; 5 October [O.S. 25 September] 1658 – 7 May [O.S. 26 April] 1718) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII (1633–1701). A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widowed James, who was then the younger brother and heir presumptive of Charles II (1630–1685). She was uninterested in politics and devoted to James and their children, two of whom survived to adulthood: the Jacobite claimant to the thrones, James Francis Edward, and Louisa Maria Teresa.

Born a princess of the northwestern Italian Duchy of Modena, Mary is primarily remembered for the controversial birth of James Francis Edward, her only surviving son. It was widely rumoured that he was a "changeling", brought into the birth chamber in a warming pan, in order to perpetuate her husband's Catholic Stuart dynasty. Although the accusation was almost certainly false, and the subsequent Privy Council investigation affirmed this, James Francis Edward's birth was a contributing factor to the "Glorious Revolution", the revolution which deposed James II and VII and replaced him with his Protestant eldest daughter from his first marriage to Anne Hyde (1637–1671), Mary II. She and her husband, William III of Orange, would reign jointly as "William and Mary".


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