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Most people in Britain today know a little about William the Conqueror and the Norman invasion of England in 1066. But only a minority will be able to tell you anything about the much more recent invasion by another conquering William, who also invaded these islands and seized the throne at the head of a foreign army – in 1688.
Yet William of Orange – William III of England as he became – ushered in a revolution in government that transformed England for ever ... and, with it, Europe and, eventually, most of the world. And the 'Glorious Revolution' that brought him to the throne and a new form of parliamentary government into being was accomplished within just a few years of James II becoming king.
Between his magnificent coronation on 6 February 1685, when he inherited a loyal, Tory-dominated Parliament and crowds of Londoners celebrated his succession with toasts of free wine, and his ignominious flight to France in December 1688, James contrived to lose the support of virtually the whole nation. William of Orange didn't so much have to conquer the English as to march in at their invitation.
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 James II's Catholicism made him unpopular to both his English Protestant subjects and Parliament. The king's opponents forced his eventual flight to France, paving the way for Mary and William's succession
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