Mary of Modena

Mary of Modena (Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este;  October 5 [O.S. September 25],1658 –  May 7 [O.S. April 26] 1718) is Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII (1633–1701).

A devout Catholic, Mary weds the widowed James, who is the younger brother and heir presumptive of Charles II, (1630–1685).[

She is uninterested in politics and devoted to James and their children, two of whom survive to adulthood: the Jacobite (previous Roman Catholic/Stuart dynasty) claimant to the thrones, James Francis Edward, (who would have become James III of England, but later in life known as "The Old Pretender"), 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 is widely rumored that he is a "changeling", brought into the birth-chamber in a warming-pan, in order to perpetuate her husband's Catholic Stuart dynasty.

Although the accusation is almost certainly false, and the subsequent Privy Council investigation affirms this, James Francis Edward's birth is a contributing factor to the "Glorious Revolution", the revolution that deposes James II and VII and replaces him with his Protestant eldest daughter from his first marriage to Anne Hyde, (1637–1671), Lady Mary, (later Queen Mary II).

She and her husband, William III, Prince of Orange-Nassau, reign jointly on the English Throne as "William and Mary".

Exiled to France, the "Queen over the water"—as the "Jacobites", (followers of James II and VII, Stuart dynasty claims, and generally Roman Catholics) called Mary—lives with her husband and children in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, provided by King Louis XIV of France ("The Sun King").

Mary is popular among Louis XIV's courtiers; however, James is considered a bore.

In widowhood, Mary spends much time with the nuns at the Convent of Chaillot, where she and her daughter Louisa Maria Teresa spend their summers.

In 1701, when James II dies, young James Francis Edward becomes king at age thirteen in the eyes of the "Jacobites", as now "King James III and VIII".

As he wis too young to assume the nominal reins of government, Mary acted as his regent until he reaches the age of sixteen. When young James Francis Edward is asked to leave France as part of the settlement from the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which ends the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), Mary of Modena stays, despite having no family there, her daughter Louisa Maria Teresa having unfortunately died of smallpox.

Fondly remembered by her French contemporaries, Mary dies in 1718 of breast cancer.

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