James, the future James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland, was born at St James’s Palace on 14 October 1633. He was the second surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria and was titled Duke of York.

The Civil War disrupted his childhood. After his father’s execution in 1649, James lived in exile and served in the French and Spanish armies. He returned to England in 1660, when his elder brother, Charles II, restored the monarchy. James later commanded the Royal Navy and converted to Roman Catholicism.

He succeeded Charles in February 1685. Although his accession met little initial opposition, his religion and use of royal powers soon caused conflict. He attempted to remove legal restrictions on Catholics and Protestant dissenters, but many politicians and Church of England leaders believed he was overriding Parliament.

The birth of his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, in June 1688 raised the prospect of a continuing Catholic succession. A group of English peers invited James’s Protestant son-in-law, William of Orange, to intervene. William landed in England in November, and James fled to France in December.

William and James’s daughter Mary accepted the English crown in February 1689. In April, Scotland declared that James had forfeited its crown. He later attempted to recover his kingdoms through Ireland but was defeated by William at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. James remained in exile in France until his death in 1701.