Mary of Modena

Mary of Modena (Italian: Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este;[1] 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. A devout Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the younger brother and heir presumptive of Charles II.[2] She was 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.[3]

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Mary of Modena
Portrait from the studio of Willem Wissing, painted sometime between 1676 and 1685
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 ​ ​ (m. 1673; died 1701)​
Issue among others	Isabel Stuart Charles, Duke of Cambridge James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales Louisa Maria Stuart
Names Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este
House	Este
Father	Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena
Mother	Laura Martinozzi
Religion	Catholicism
Signature

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 smuggled into the birth chamber in a warming pan in order to perpetuate her husband's Catholic Stuart dynasty. 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 Mary II, a Protestant, James II's eldest daughter from his first marriage to Anne Hyde (1637–1671). Mary II and her husband, William III of Orange, would reign jointly over all three kingdoms.

Mary went into exile in France, being known as the "Queen over the water" among the Jacobites. She lived with her husband and children at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, provided by King Louis XIV. Mary was popular among Louis's courtiers; James, however, was considered a bore. In widowhood, Mary spent time with the nuns at the Convent of Chaillot, frequently during summers with her daughter, Louisa Maria Teresa. In 1701, when James II died, young James Francis Edward, aged 13, became king in the eyes of the Jacobites. Given that he was too young to assume the nominal reins of government, Mary represented him until he reached the age of 16. When James Francis Edward was asked to leave France as part of the settlement from the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), Mary stayed despite having no family there, her daughter having died of smallpox. Fondly remembered by her French contemporaries, Mary died of breast cancer in 1718.