0:00:04 > 0:00:07Lots of people remember their history lessons
0:00:07 > 0:00:13from school as dates and battles, kings and queens, facts and figures.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18But the story of our past is open to interpretation.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21And much of British history is a carefully edited,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23and even deceitful, version of events.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27You might think that history is just a record of what happened -
0:00:27 > 0:00:30actually, it's not like that at all.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32As soon as you do a little digging,
0:00:32 > 0:00:37you discover that it's more like a tapestry of different stories,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40woven together by whoever was in power at the time.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42In this series,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46I'm going to debunk some of the biggest fibs in British history.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48In the 15th century,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50the story of the Wars of the Roses
0:00:50 > 0:00:53was invented by the Tudors to justify their power,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and then immortalised by the greatest storyteller of
0:00:57 > 0:00:59them all, William Shakespeare.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Now is the winter of our discontent.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07In the 19th century, a British government coup in India...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10..was rebranded by the Victorians
0:01:10 > 0:01:13as the civilising triumph of the Empire.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20And in this programme, I'll discover how, in the 17th century,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24British MPs joined forces with a Dutch prince
0:01:24 > 0:01:28to spin a foreign invasion into a story of liberation.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31If you think that William the Conqueror
0:01:31 > 0:01:36was the last person to invade these shores, think again.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Just 300 years ago, another William, William of Orange,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42led an equally successful attack.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48William has gone down in history to some as the heroic King Billy.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52To others, he's a bloody usurper.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56His attack isn't remembered as a foreign invasion.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01It's often described instead as a peaceful transfer of power.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04A necessary measure that saved England
0:02:04 > 0:02:07from the tyrannical King James II.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12This was our Glorious Revolution.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Or so the story goes.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19With history, the line between fact and fiction often gets blurred.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34In the 17th century,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38the English Civil Wars, between Royalists and Republicans,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42tore the country apart, and Charles I was beheaded.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Never again would the monarchy be allowed to wield absolute power.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51So, in 1685,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56when James II became king and started throwing his weight around,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58his enemies decided that something must be done.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05What followed became known as the Glorious Revolution.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12James II is the villain of this carefully constructed tale.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18He abdicates, giving way to the noble Dutch Protestant
0:03:18 > 0:03:23William III of Orange and his English wife, Mary.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26In this swift and glorious transfer of power,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30the golden couple put an end to the absolute power of the monarchy.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32They banish Catholicism
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and restore order and liberty to our nation.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41And all without a drop of English blood being spilled.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50For many people, James II was a good old-fashioned tyrant,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53harking back to the bad old days of Charles I.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59But the biggest problem with James was the fact that he was a Catholic
0:03:59 > 0:04:02king in a country that was largely Protestant.
0:04:03 > 0:04:04In England, at least,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08a Catholic monarch was associated with absolutism.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11He believed in the divine right to rule
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and to ride roughshod over his subjects.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19James didn't do much to play down this tyrannical image.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23When a rebellion rose up against him,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26he executed 250 of the participants.
0:04:26 > 0:04:32When seven Anglican bishops dared to challenge his pro-Catholic policies,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34he threw them into the Tower of London.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38James's enemies wanted a Protestant monarch
0:04:38 > 0:04:42who respected the powers of Parliament.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44So James was a Catholic,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47he appointed his fellow Catholics to high office -
0:04:47 > 0:04:48that caused annoyance -
0:04:48 > 0:04:53and worst of all, he married a Catholic, Mary of Modena.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56This meant that any children, any heirs that they might have,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58would be Catholics too.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02But, for James's Protestant enemies, there was a glimmer of hope.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07James hadn't produced a Catholic heir.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12He only had his two daughters, both Protestant, from his first marriage.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14And his new wife, Mary,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17had lost eight children as a result of miscarriages,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20stillbirths and deaths in infancy.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26If James's wife, Mary, proved unable to give him a baby boy,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and time was ticking on, she wasn't getting any younger,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33then James's line would stutter to a stop.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37This Catholic part of the Royal family would simply die out.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52Then, on 23 December 1687,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55it was announced that Mary of Modena was pregnant again.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58As each month passed,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03it looked ever more likely she might give birth to a healthy baby.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08The Protestants thought that something had to be done.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Where they going to rise up against James and have a Civil War?
0:06:12 > 0:06:16No. Instead, they waged a war of words.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19The bedchamber became a battlefield.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23With the horrors of the English Civil War
0:06:23 > 0:06:28still within living memory, regicide was out of the question.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Any regime change would need to be legally justified.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36So James's enemies began to spin a yarn.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42As Mary's pregnancy progressed, people put it about that was a fake,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45or perhaps a fantasy.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50Even James's grown-up daughters, the Protestant princesses, Mary and Ann,
0:06:50 > 0:06:51got in on the act.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55They spread gossip that nobody had felt the baby quickening,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59and - here's the clincher - nobody had seen any milk.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03But on the 10th June 1688,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Mary of Modena defied the doubters
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Now, you might think that the birth would have put an end to the debate
0:07:14 > 0:07:16but, in fact, it intensified it.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Because some people said that the real baby had died,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and that an impostor had been smuggled into the Queen's bed
0:07:24 > 0:07:25in a warming pan.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34The tittle-tattle in London's coffee houses
0:07:34 > 0:07:38started to sway public opinion against the King.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42And James's response only made the situation worse.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47He summoned 42 witnesses to make sworn statements
0:07:47 > 0:07:50that they'd seen Mary gave birth.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53James published these depositions.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57It was an attempt to silence his Protestant enemies.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02John, tell me a bit more about this warming pan incident.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04How did it actually work?
0:08:04 > 0:08:07It comes from quite an innocuous detail in these depositions.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09There's a gentlewoman of the bedchamber
0:08:09 > 0:08:11called Margaret Dawson,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14who says, "I saw fire carried in to warm the Queen's bed
0:08:14 > 0:08:15"in a warming pan."
0:08:16 > 0:08:21But then, in this pamphlet, a full answer to the depositions,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24which basically goes through the depositions and tears them to pieces,
0:08:24 > 0:08:26and says, "This isn't good enough, this isn't enough detail,
0:08:26 > 0:08:27"it's not enough evidence."
0:08:27 > 0:08:31It picks up on this detail of the warming pan, and it says
0:08:31 > 0:08:33inside the warming pan was an illegitimate child
0:08:33 > 0:08:35who had been born in the convent next-door.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The pamphlet gives us the route that the child took -
0:08:38 > 0:08:42it's carried through these passages, so this is the passage below,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44up some stairs, through a closet above,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47through some more passages above,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51through here, through a gallery, and then through some lodgings,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and then into the Queen's great bedchamber,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55into the bed where she is in labour...
0:08:56 > 0:08:58..and through the curtain. And the dot goes all the way...
0:08:58 > 0:09:00- Into the bed itself! - Right up into the bed.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02And then they pop the child into the bed.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05It must have happened. The map says that it did.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09- Indeed.- What other sort of stuff was produced that helped tell this story
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- of the warming pan?- What we have here is a pair of images,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15the first of which is celebrating the prince's birth.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17You have Mary of Modena here,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19with her hand in the Prince of Wales's crib,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22the Prince of Wales here is looking very splendid,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24he has some flowers in his hair,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27- and it's a kind of...- Hurrah, we've got a lovely little baby boy!
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Exactly. Isn't that lovely?
0:09:30 > 0:09:31And then what happens on this one?
0:09:31 > 0:09:33- This one...- It's subverted a bit.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35It is. This figure that's added in here is
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Father Edward Petre, who is an English Jesuit,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41who had rose to be an adviser of James II.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45This led to rumours that he was, in fact, the father of the Prince of Wales.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Which is why he is creeping up behind her and giving her a squeeze.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50That's exactly right.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53Do you think it is possible that James II wouldn't have got into
0:09:53 > 0:09:56so much trouble if he had been able to tell a better story?
0:09:56 > 0:09:59One of the problems is that the warming pan fiction,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01even though it's not plausible,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04people are willing to go along with it because they would rather believe
0:10:04 > 0:10:09that the child is illegitimate than face the prospect of an England that
0:10:09 > 0:10:11is Catholic for years and years and years.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20The warming pan affair may sound far-fetched
0:10:20 > 0:10:24but it was a juicy tabloid tale,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27powerful enough to stir up treason.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37James's right to rule was increasingly being questioned.
0:10:37 > 0:10:43And James's enemies had now won the public support they needed to remove
0:10:43 > 0:10:44the anointed king.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56There was once a grand Tudor mansion here,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58in the village of Hurley on the banks of the River Thames.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03It was called Lady Place.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Its owner was the third Baron Lovelace,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10a member of Parliament and one of James II's enemies.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Lovelace was a bit of a rogue.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19He was a drinker and a gambler and, above all, a Catholic-hater.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Once he got a court summons for some public order offence,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26but the magistrate issuing it was a Catholic,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28so Lovelace took his court summons,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32he screwed it up and he used it to wipe his bottom.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33In public.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Nothing of Lady Place stands above ground today.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45But hidden away, here in someone's back garden,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48a little bit of it still remains.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55These are the cellars of Lady Place, and they're connected
0:11:55 > 0:11:58by a secret tunnel to the banks of the River Thames
0:11:58 > 0:12:02just over there. So, you could arrive and leave unseen.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07Lovelace hosted clandestine meetings here for like-minded nobleman who
0:12:07 > 0:12:10were all plotting against King James II.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19In these secret meetings, a plot was hatched to overthrow the king.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24But these men weren't going to take up arms themselves.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Instead, they wrote a letter,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30inviting someone else to do their dirty work.
0:12:32 > 0:12:40This is a copy of the letter they wrote, dated the 30th June, 1688.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44It's been signed by seven people, but they haven't given their names.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48They've given secret code numbers instead.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Somebody has written in later who they really were.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Shrewsbury, Devonshire, Danby, Lumley,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57the Bishop of London, Russell, Sydney...
0:12:57 > 0:12:59These were all top politicians.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01You can see why they didn't want to sign it with their names,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05because the letter is just full of treason.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Listen to this.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10"The people are so generally dissatisfied with the present
0:13:10 > 0:13:14"conduct of the government in relation to their religion,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16"liberty and properties."
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And here, they get right down to business.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21"19 parts of 20 of the people
0:13:21 > 0:13:26"throughout the kingdom are desirous of a change."
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Playing on anti-Catholic sentiments,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34this letter tells the tale of a country in peril.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38A country that needed to be saved.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41It was addressed to a Protestant prince from the Netherlands,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43William of Orange.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It even talks about William landing in England.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54And it says that the people will venture forth to meet him when he does this.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56The message is pretty clear.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01It is, "William, Prince of Orange, please, invade us."
0:14:03 > 0:14:07In the unfolding drama of the Glorious Revolution,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10this wouldn't be described as treason.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13It was the letter of invitation,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16a plea from a beleaguered nation in a time of need.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19If William accepted,
0:14:19 > 0:14:23he would be presented as the answer to England's prayers.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30This is William's Palace, Het Loo in the Netherlands,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33from where he reigned as stadtholder,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36which is almost like a constitutional king.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39And it is pretty clear why William
0:14:39 > 0:14:42was the conspirators' ideal candidate
0:14:42 > 0:14:43to take the English throne.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48William was James II's nephew.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53But more importantly, his wife really was a Stewart.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56She was James's own daughter, Mary.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00In England, Ireland and Scotland,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04these Royal Stewart credentials might help make the coup
0:15:04 > 0:15:06look more like a legitimate succession.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13If William, and indeed Mary, could be placed on the English throne,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16then this needn't be seen as a coup at all,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20just as an orderly transition from father to daughter.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24And these two had excellent credentials as monarchs in waiting,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26because they were both Protestants.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31James's enemies had chosen well.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36But William of Orange had even more to gain
0:15:36 > 0:15:38from going along with their plan.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45William was playing an even longer game than simply becoming king of
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Britain, and this is why the invitation was so attractive to him.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52If he were to invade and get the crown,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55then he'd be toppling a Catholic king - good thing.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58More importantly, though,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03he would be getting more power to move against an even more dangerous
0:16:03 > 0:16:05Catholic threat nearer home.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Louis XIV, the Sun King of France.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16Louis XIV was the most absolute of absolute monarchs.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20And his armies were a constant threat to the Dutch Republic.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26William was determined to protect Protestant northern Europe against Louis.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30The rivalry between the two men
0:16:30 > 0:16:33was played out in a game of garden design.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Here, William ordered fountains, even bigger and better
0:16:40 > 0:16:44than those at Louis's own opulent palace, Versailles.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53But, for evidence of William's more enlightened style of monarchy,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55you have to go into his bedroom.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03In the 17th century, the state bedroom wasn't a private place.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06This is where the sovereign received important guests.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11What would you say is the most significant difference between Louis XIV's
0:17:11 > 0:17:15bedroom at Versailles and William's bedroom here?
0:17:15 > 0:17:17I think it's the absence of a balustrade,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21just where we stand here, to divide the room into two parts.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26In France, people had to make a bow in front of the balustrade,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28even if the king was absent.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32But William III is more, you know, open to the public,
0:17:32 > 0:17:37more open-minded perhaps, and more open to the parliament.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Maybe that's the difference.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41So, we've got Louis, the absolute monarch with his
0:17:41 > 0:17:46"get out, stay away" balustrade, but William, not as a Democrat,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49but as a more friendly Republican, he says, "Come on in."
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- I believe so.- A friendly king.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Exactly.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56But William wasn't going to beat Louis
0:17:56 > 0:17:59with one-upmanship in the bedroom.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02He needed Protestant allies to crush Louis in battle.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Getting his hands on the British Navy would give William the edge he
0:18:08 > 0:18:11needed. And now he had an open invitation
0:18:11 > 0:18:14to walk right in and take it.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18So, this is William's private closet.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20A room for secrets.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Exactly. It is a the most intimate space you can imagine.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26It's very small, but very elaborate.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28It's his office, more or less.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32Yes, it's his office. He works here, in this very spot.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Am I right to imagine William III sitting here,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37reading his letter of invitation,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40and drawing up his plan for the invasion of Britain?
0:18:40 > 0:18:42It's tempting. Yes, I want to believe
0:18:42 > 0:18:45it was at Het Loo that he made plans for his invasion.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47It all took place here.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49So, this is a really significant room,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52- in the whole of British history. - It is.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Britain's parliamentary conspirators had their champion lined up.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07But who was really controlling the narrative here?
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Now, we think that William was invited to invade England,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15but what's the real story?
0:19:15 > 0:19:18It's more complicated than that, isn't it?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20It is definitely more complicated.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23He had already taken a decision to go to England,
0:19:23 > 0:19:29probably in November 1687, and if he got an invitation by the English,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32then he was safe.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37He wanted to legitimise his trip by asking people in England
0:19:37 > 0:19:42to invite him, so it would give the expedition legal power.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48'In April 1688, two months before the invitation,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52'one of the seven conspirators had come here to the Hague for
0:19:52 > 0:19:54'a secret meeting with William.'
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Gilbert Burnet, William's chaplin and historian,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01kept a record of the meeting.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03Burnet wrote that William said,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07it would be great if some people in England would invite him
0:20:07 > 0:20:10and that he would be ready in a few months' time.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13"By the end of September to come over..."
0:20:13 > 0:20:14That's to invade England?
0:20:14 > 0:20:16That is to invade England, yeah.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20William was a lifetime enemy of Louis XIV,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24so there was a great chance that there would be a new war,
0:20:24 > 0:20:29and in that war, England had to help William III.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31So he has to put together a document
0:20:31 > 0:20:34that's going to sell his case to the English,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36to the British people, really,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40and this, fantastically, is handwritten.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42This must be the original.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47"The declaration of his Highness William, Prince of Orange.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51"The reasons inducing him to appear in arms
0:20:51 > 0:20:52"in the Kingdom of England
0:20:52 > 0:20:55"for the preserving of the Protestant religion
0:20:55 > 0:20:58"and for restoring the laws and the liberties
0:20:58 > 0:20:59"of Great Britain and Ireland."
0:20:59 > 0:21:01So, nothing in there about France.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04"It's all about you, guys, English people, be happy."
0:21:04 > 0:21:10Yes, William says that he wants to call a free and legal parliament
0:21:10 > 0:21:15that would abolish all the laws and all the violations of the laws
0:21:15 > 0:21:18that James II had perpetrated.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20So he had it written by a Dutch civil servant,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25it was translated into English by Burnet,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and it looks to me like Burnet has improved it.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32You can see him adding in extra little words and rewriting it here.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35He's added a bit here about the Houses of Parliament.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37He has added in "remarkable".
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Presumably that was all helping to sell the case, to make it smoother,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43to make it more acceptable to the British.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Because, of course, the English people weren't
0:21:45 > 0:21:48going to know anything about the real plans
0:21:48 > 0:21:49of William III with England.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Namely that England would have to join them against France.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58I'm more and more impressed with William's foresight.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01It seems that he is several moves ahead
0:22:01 > 0:22:05of everybody else in a European game of chess.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09It's very clever the way he has written himself into the story,
0:22:09 > 0:22:14with the pre-invitation, then the invitation, then the declaration.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18You can see all these things as individual pieces of politics,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21as spin, if you like.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Until they stick, and then they become history.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32With his declaration to the British prepared,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35William and his parliamentary plotters
0:22:35 > 0:22:37put his invasion plan into action.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43His flag proudly proclaimed his message.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47"For religion and liberty."
0:22:49 > 0:22:50But just as they set sail,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54a storm blowing from the west stalled William's progress,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56and kept him in port.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01And because it helps James, people called it the "Catholic wind".
0:23:02 > 0:23:04- But then... - And it suddenly turned around...
0:23:04 > 0:23:06- William's luck changed. - His luck certainly changed.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10And it blew just as hard from completely the opposite direction,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12so that was the Protestant wind.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14That shot him all the way down the channel.
0:23:14 > 0:23:15So now they had the initiative,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18and shot down the channel at record speed
0:23:18 > 0:23:22with a very strong easterly wind behind them.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Can you describe this fleet that
0:23:25 > 0:23:28came sailing down the English Channel?
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Well, lots of people saw it, that's the first thing.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34It was so huge that when it came down the channel,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37they decided to make a parade of it.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39They went through 25 abreast,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42stretching almost from Dover all the way to Calais,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45with Brigade bands playing cheerful tunes.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50The idea was to offend King James and Louis XIV at the same time,
0:23:50 > 0:23:51which they did very effectively,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54as lots of people saw this and were utterly astonished, of course,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57because nothing like it had been seen before, or again.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01So it's a cross between a fleet and a pantomime.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03William III understood the importance
0:24:03 > 0:24:05of making a big impact on the public.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08- The theatre, if you like. - The theatre of politics.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10He understood that very well, yes.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Now, we've been talking about this as an invasion.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Is that the right word to use in your opinion?
0:24:17 > 0:24:19It was an invasion, but it was very important
0:24:19 > 0:24:22to present it as if it were not an invasion.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26One of the things the Dutch troops were given very strict orders about
0:24:26 > 0:24:29was that they must never call it an invasion, whatever they do,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31they would be severely punished.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33They were told they must not tell the English
0:24:33 > 0:24:35that they have invaded and conquered the country.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The Parliamentary conspiracy was going to plan.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42Hello!
0:24:43 > 0:24:48'William's huge army disembarked unopposed, here at Brixham.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54'The locals in this Devon fishing village just stood by and watched.'
0:25:01 > 0:25:06One Dutch Observer reported that all along the roadside,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09the men, the women and children were waving out,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12"God bless, 100 good wishes to you."
0:25:12 > 0:25:16Well, he was Dutch, he would say that, wouldn't he?
0:25:16 > 0:25:19William really had left nothing to chance.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Amongst all these supplies coming off the ships and Brixham -
0:25:22 > 0:25:26the spare boots, the pickled herrings, the horses -
0:25:26 > 0:25:29there was one more vital weapon of war.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30It was a printing press.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36Before setting sail, William printed his version of events.
0:25:36 > 0:25:3960,000 copies of the declaration.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42An early example of printed propaganda.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45As soon as he landed,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47he started printing even more.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52William was carpet bombing England with his manifesto.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56His declaration was everywhere, listing his reasons
0:25:56 > 0:26:01inducing him to appear in arms in the Kingdom of England.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03He's not keeping a low profile, is he?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10As he marched on Exeter,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13the Dutch prince's army met with no resistance.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18He entered the city in spectacular fashion.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Not as an invader, but as the nation's saviour.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28200 soldiers and armour led the way on Flemish horses,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31accompanied by a further 200 Africans
0:26:31 > 0:26:34from the Dutch colonies in white turbans.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41William himself was dressed in gleaming armour,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43a white plume blowing in the wind.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47He was riding a white horse.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53His banner bore the words, "God and the Protestant religion".
0:26:56 > 0:27:00If you knew your Bible, the symbolism was pretty obvious.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05A white horse heralded the arrival of a divine conqueror,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08or even Christ himself.
0:27:08 > 0:27:15In the Book of Revelation, heaven opened and behold, a white horse.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20He who sat on him was called Faithful and True.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23In righteousness, he judges and makes war.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30In his eyes are flames of fire, and on his head are many crowns.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36William had come to seize the Crown.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40But by presenting himself in his theatrical getup,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42he didn't look like an invader.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45He looked like a Christian saviour.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57William's theatrical progress didn't stop there.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02In Exeter Cathedral,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07he ordered his chaplain to preach from the text of his declaration,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10with his theme of a free parliament.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12"The securing to the whole nation
0:28:12 > 0:28:14"the free enjoyment of all their laws,
0:28:14 > 0:28:20"rights and liberties under a just and legal government."
0:28:20 > 0:28:23He also gave religious assurances.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25The preservation of the Protestant religion,
0:28:25 > 0:28:30the covering of all men from persecution of their consciences.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36The chaplain then led the congregation in the Te Deum,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39the hymn in which they ask God to save them, to lift them up,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and most importantly, to govern them.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59And then, with quite dazzling hubris, he seated himself here,
0:28:59 > 0:29:03in the spectacular throne of the medieval bishops of Exeter.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09He wasn't king yet.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14But with his propaganda, and his pageantry, and his sense of purpose,
0:29:14 > 0:29:16he was halfway there.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24The Dutch prince was cleverly transforming himself
0:29:24 > 0:29:26into a very British hero.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29A Protestant knight in shining armour,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32leading a Glorious Revolution.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34Not an invader.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Not a usurper.
0:29:36 > 0:29:37But a liberator.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41James was in trouble.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43And as he prepared for battle,
0:29:43 > 0:29:48to put an end to William's story of triumph, disaster struck.
0:29:48 > 0:29:54James had a nosebleed, and retreated from the battlefield.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57The conspirators said that the nosebleed was a sign of weakness.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01And when James fled England,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04they announced that the King had abdicated.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10The fleeing James had gone into exile
0:30:10 > 0:30:14in Louis XIV's Catholic France. To his enemies,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18this confirmed where his true loyalties had been all along.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25There was now a constitutional power vacuum.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28For William to fill James's royal shoes,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30he and the parliamentary conspirators
0:30:30 > 0:30:33would have to keep promoting their agenda.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36William's glorious progress
0:30:36 > 0:30:41had to be turned into a plausible new chapter in British history.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Mary's Stuart lineage now came in to play.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48She and William were offered a joint monarchy - they'd rule together.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52It had never happened before and it has never happened since.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57But this special arrangement allowed a story that was really about
0:30:57 > 0:31:00conspiracy and intrigue to be transformed
0:31:00 > 0:31:03into the tale of an ordinary succession.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10On the day William and Mary formally accepted the joint crown,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13they had a declaration read aloud to them.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17It defined the limits of their power as well as the duties
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and responsibilities they owed to Parliament.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26That declaration was enshrined in law as the Bill of Rights.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32It set down Protestant superiority in law.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35And banned Catholics from ever taking the throne.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40It enshrined certain civil liberties,
0:31:40 > 0:31:43and it ordered that no law should be imposed
0:31:43 > 0:31:45without Parliamentary approval.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49Most of all, it formalised a narrative
0:31:49 > 0:31:53that backed up William and Mary's claim to the throne.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58The Bill of Rights gave the conspirators
0:31:58 > 0:32:01the constrained monarchy they wanted.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06It strikes me that this bill was a very finely judged piece
0:32:06 > 0:32:09of political magic. Is that correct?
0:32:09 > 0:32:15I think that THE main thing that was intended to try to persuade people
0:32:15 > 0:32:19of was that this was not an invasion,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22but it was rather a legitimate coronation.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24In the first part of the document
0:32:24 > 0:32:28it's an attempt on the part of the political nation
0:32:28 > 0:32:30to wriggle out of a slightly sticky situation.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35That's to say, they've got to characterise James as a tyrant,
0:32:35 > 0:32:40and as therefore illegitimate, which makes the revolution legitimate.
0:32:41 > 0:32:46Having written James and any future Catholic threat out of the picture,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48the Bill of Rights now declared
0:32:48 > 0:32:52William and Mary's legitimate right to rule.
0:32:52 > 0:32:53So, that's part one.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56And part two is the future, is it?
0:32:56 > 0:32:57That's right, yes.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00Part two is the declaration of rights, proper.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04It is, if you like, that bit that might be seen as an expression
0:33:04 > 0:33:06of enlightened ideas,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09an assertion of the liberty of the people and of
0:33:09 > 0:33:12the sovereignty of Parliament. For example,
0:33:12 > 0:33:18they say that the king may not raise taxation without the consent
0:33:18 > 0:33:20of Parliament, that there has to be free elections,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23that there has to be freedom of speech in Parliament.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29The transition from the monarchy with absolute power to a monarchy
0:33:29 > 0:33:33in service to Parliament was almost complete.
0:33:33 > 0:33:39The Bill of Rights began what we now call our constitutional monarchy.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42It's the foundation stone of Parliamentary democracy.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47The Bill of Rights was a winner's charter.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52It was written by and for the supporters of the new regime.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55It legitimised the joint monarchy of William and Mary,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58but it also gave more power to Parliament.
0:33:58 > 0:33:59Much more power.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03So much that you could call it a revolution.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06And if you happened to be a Protestant Parliamentarian,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10then you might even think that it was all rather glorious.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16The event of 1688 now had a suitably grand title.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23The conspirators were determined to find the perfect words for
0:34:23 > 0:34:26this glorious and historic episode.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Best of all, the coup had gone like clockwork,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36so they could describe it as a peaceful transition.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40A bloodless revolution.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51But as William's Glorious Revolution was rolled out
0:34:51 > 0:34:54across Scotland and Ireland, it was anything but.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00James's supporters were known as the Jacobites,
0:35:00 > 0:35:01and in Ireland and Scotland,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04they continued the struggle against William.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08In March 1689,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11James joined his Allies in County Cork
0:35:11 > 0:35:14with troops supplied by Louis XIV.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18William landed in the north of Ireland in the following year,
0:35:18 > 0:35:20and marched on Dublin.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23On 1st of July 1690,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28their armies met here on the banks of the River Boyne.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37And now, funny first time in the whole of their long power struggle,
0:35:37 > 0:35:42James II and his son-in-law William faced each other in the field
0:35:42 > 0:35:44at the Battle of the Boyne.
0:35:47 > 0:35:53James' army was over 25,000 strong, William had a force of 40,000 men.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59This would be a bloody battle.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01William attempted to cross the river from the west,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04James diverted most of his troops to head him off.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10But this left the rest of James's army exposed.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14William was merciless.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19James's soldiers held out for three hours before being overwhelmed.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26One French witness said, "This is the sixth battle that I have seen,
0:36:26 > 0:36:29"but I have never seen such a rout."
0:36:29 > 0:36:32William's troops were ruthlessly efficient.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35"They picked off the fleeing Jacobites
0:36:35 > 0:36:38"like hairs amongst the corn," he said.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44James was defeated.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46He fled again to France, and would never return.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54But the fighting continued.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58William sanctioned even bloodier slaughter elsewhere.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01A year after the Boyne,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05William's men met Jacobite forces at Aughrim in County Galway
0:37:05 > 0:37:08on 12 July 1691.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11It was carnage.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16The Jacobites suffered losses of 7,000.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18William's side - only 700.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24In the aftermath of the battle,
0:37:24 > 0:37:30one observer reported seeing Irish soldiers with mutilated limbs
0:37:30 > 0:37:33asking for the sword as a remedy.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35Meanwhile, others, he said,
0:37:35 > 0:37:40spewed forth their breath mixed with blood and threats.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44There was so much blood that it flowed over the ground and you could
0:37:44 > 0:37:47hardly take a step without slipping in it.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55This battle marked the end of Jacobite resistance in Ireland.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00William would be later reinvented as a Protestant hero, King Billy.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03For jubilant Protestants,
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Aughrim went down in history as the single most celebrated battle.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12So, why has the Battle of the Boyne lived longest
0:38:12 > 0:38:14in the national memory of Ireland?
0:38:16 > 0:38:20It happened because of a funny kind of mix-up.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25People had always celebrated or commemorated the Battle of Aughrim
0:38:25 > 0:38:27on its anniversary, 12 July.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32Until 1752, when the calendars changed,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35to bring Britain into line with Europe.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Roughly ten days got lost to British history.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43But people had got used to the idea of celebrating on 12 July,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45it's just that under the new system,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50the battle whose anniversary was closest to that date wasn't Aughrim,
0:38:50 > 0:38:52it was the Battle of the Boyne,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56and that is why the Boyne has ended up on the fridge magnet.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01The Battle of the Boyne still has an almost sacred significance
0:39:01 > 0:39:03for Irish Protestants.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08King Billy had secured the future of their religion.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12For them, his status as a national hero and saviour
0:39:12 > 0:39:15remains intact to this day.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22Jacobite uprisings against the Glorious Revolution in Scotland
0:39:22 > 0:39:25were also brutally crushed.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28In 1692, William's men in Scotland
0:39:28 > 0:39:32ordered the notorious Glencoe Massacre.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35It was punishment for the Clan Macdonald's delay
0:39:35 > 0:39:37in signing an oath of allegiance to William and Mary.
0:39:39 > 0:39:4138 were murdered,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45and another 40 women and children died of exposure
0:39:45 > 0:39:47after their homes were torched.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56But despite brutality and bloodshed in Scotland and Ireland,
0:39:56 > 0:40:01the narrative of the Glorious Revolution held fast in England.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03For William and the English Parliament,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06of course this was a Glorious Revolution.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Because despite the rebellions and the bloodshed, they had won.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13And if you win a conflict, you get to pick its name.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22As Britain left behind the turmoil of the 17th century,
0:40:22 > 0:40:26the Glorious Revolution took its place in the history books.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31For Parliament and the Crown, the ends had justified the means.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37An absolutist King had been replaced with a constitutional monarchy,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40and it was now time to celebrate
0:40:40 > 0:40:43the architects of this sensible revolution.
0:40:47 > 0:40:48In the 18th century,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51those seven people who'd written the letter
0:40:51 > 0:40:54inviting William of Orange to come over
0:40:54 > 0:40:56started to be glorified as heroes.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00In 1773, the historian John Dalrymple
0:41:00 > 0:41:02came up with a name for them.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06I love this name. It makes them sound like an action film.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08They were called the "Immortal Seven".
0:41:10 > 0:41:14And the cellars of Lady Place, where the plotters had met,
0:41:14 > 0:41:16became a site of pilgrimage.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24The conspirator Lovelace had brought William himself down here after
0:41:24 > 0:41:27his coronation, to see the hallowed place where it all began.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31And successive kings would visit it,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34as it became a shrine to the Glorious Revolution.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39And this inscription that marks the fact that,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43"The Revolution of 1688 was begun here."
0:41:46 > 0:41:48This was a bit of brazen myth-making.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51But it chimed perfectly with the national mood.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57The peace and prosperity that followed the establishment of
0:41:57 > 0:41:59our constitutional monarchy was presented
0:41:59 > 0:42:03as the direct consequence of the Glorious Revolution.
0:42:05 > 0:42:06In the late 18th century,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09that point of view was given an extra boost
0:42:09 > 0:42:11by events across the Channel.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16France's proud absolute monarch Louis XVI
0:42:16 > 0:42:20was removed from power and executed by revolutionaries.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29The violence and terror of the French Revolution
0:42:29 > 0:42:33sent shock waves around Europe.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36In Britain, it was held up as further proof
0:42:36 > 0:42:40of the virtues of the orderly transfer of power in 1688.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43The Glorious Revolution
0:42:43 > 0:42:44was now celebrated
0:42:44 > 0:42:46as a symbol of enlightened
0:42:46 > 0:42:49British values and superiority.
0:42:50 > 0:42:56As the rest of post-revolutionary Europe descended into chaos and war,
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Britain marched self confidently into the 19th century to the tune of
0:43:00 > 0:43:04Parliamentary democracy and industrial progress,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07and imperialist expansion.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11For 19th-century historians, it was the Glorious Revolution
0:43:11 > 0:43:14that was the foundation of all this success.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18The greatest champion of this view
0:43:18 > 0:43:21was the historian and Whig politician
0:43:21 > 0:43:23Thomas Babington Macaulay.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29McCauley's Magnum Opus was called The History of England.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31This is a book that transforms
0:43:31 > 0:43:35the conspirators' carefully concocted tale into history.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39McCauley presents the Glorious Revolution
0:43:39 > 0:43:42as the masterstroke of our national story.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49He writes, "It is because we had a preserving revolution in
0:43:49 > 0:43:53"the 17th century that we have not had a destroying revolution
0:43:53 > 0:43:55"in the 19th.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58"For the authority of law, for the security of property,
0:43:58 > 0:44:00"for the peace in our streets,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04"our gratitude is due to William of Orange."
0:44:05 > 0:44:091848 became known as the "Year of Revolution"
0:44:09 > 0:44:13across Europe, with the notable exception of Britain.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18The publication of MaCaulay's book in that same year
0:44:18 > 0:44:19was perfectly timed.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21When I was a history student,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24we were told to read it with great caution,
0:44:24 > 0:44:28because this was Whig history, a "bad thing".
0:44:28 > 0:44:32It was a powerful person's view of the past.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Even at the time in the 19th century,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37people recognised that McCauley was writing
0:44:37 > 0:44:39from a very particular standpoint.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42When Karl Marx came to write Das Kapital,
0:44:42 > 0:44:46he called him "that great falsifier of history".
0:44:47 > 0:44:50As a Communist, Marx's view of history
0:44:50 > 0:44:52is never considered to be unbiased.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56But MaCaulay's position was equally influenced
0:44:56 > 0:44:59by his own political views.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01He was a Whig politician,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04a member of a party that saw Victorian Britain
0:45:04 > 0:45:07as a shining model of democratic progress in action.
0:45:09 > 0:45:10For the Whigs,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13this was only possible because of our Glorious Revolution.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21When the Houses of Parliament were rebuilt after a fire
0:45:21 > 0:45:24in the 19th century, MaCaulay and the Whigs
0:45:24 > 0:45:26saw this palace of democracy as a shrine
0:45:26 > 0:45:28to the Glorious Revolution.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34They commissioned a series of frescoes to remind MPs
0:45:34 > 0:45:37of the story of the tyrant King James
0:45:37 > 0:45:40and the nation's saviour William.
0:45:41 > 0:45:46Alice Lisle was a heroine of the Glorious Revolution who hid
0:45:46 > 0:45:51fleeing rebels in her home and was arrested for it by James's forces.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54She is sentenced to death, which of course,
0:45:54 > 0:45:56is burning at the stake for a woman,
0:45:56 > 0:45:57because women aren't hanged.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00A plea goes to the King for clemency,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and all he does is, he allows her to be beheaded,
0:46:03 > 0:46:05rather than burnt at the stake.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13The next painting shows the release of the seven bishops who James
0:46:13 > 0:46:15had thrown into the Tower of London.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23This is evidence that James was completely unpopular by the masses,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27the quantity of the public who just celebrated their acquittal
0:46:27 > 0:46:30was evidence that he was not the right man for the job.
0:46:32 > 0:46:33'In the final painting,
0:46:33 > 0:46:38'James's tyranny is a erased by the glory of constitutional monarchy.'
0:46:40 > 0:46:42This is the peak of the Glorious Revolution.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45This is the point where it all goes well.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49The clerk of the house of lords, John Brown,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53is reading the declaration of rights to them.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55And we the viewer are reading with the clerk,
0:46:55 > 0:47:00we are the people reading to these two monarchs, saying,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03"You have to do what we say in this document,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05"you are not to do what James II did
0:47:05 > 0:47:09"and disobey and make up your own rules."
0:47:10 > 0:47:13For MaCaulay, this is the beginning
0:47:13 > 0:47:16of that story of Parliament's power,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19and the monarchy being slowly restricted.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21You can actually see why this picture
0:47:21 > 0:47:23is right outside the House of Commons.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25It makes complete sense, doesn't it?
0:47:27 > 0:47:32MaCaulay's Whig version of events held sway into the 20th century.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36The Empire and two world wars had consolidated
0:47:36 > 0:47:39a sense of patriotic pride.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45In 1988, just a few yards away from MaCaulay's glorious frescoes,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48the House of Commons debated a proposal
0:47:48 > 0:47:51to send the Queen a message from Parliament,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54marking the 300th anniversary of the Glorious Revolution.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58The main events are well-known.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01The defiance of the orders of King James II
0:48:01 > 0:48:03by the bishops and the judges,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06the invitation to William of Orange and Mary
0:48:06 > 0:48:09to defend our ancient rights and liberties,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12the landing at Torbay and the peaceful transfer of power,
0:48:12 > 0:48:17which gave rise to the title of the "Bloodless Revolution" in England,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19although it was not like that in Scotland,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21and it was a very different story in Ireland.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26Margaret Thatcher's socialist adversary, Neil Kinnock,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29had a rare moment of agreement with her.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32This motion to express to Her Majesty
0:48:32 > 0:48:37our pleasure at the tercentenary of the revolution is a worthy act,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41not only because it celebrates a significant advance,
0:48:41 > 0:48:42as the Prime Minister just said,
0:48:42 > 0:48:47but also because it requires us all to consider the character
0:48:47 > 0:48:51of our democracy and the ways in which, arduously and slowly,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54it has been brought this far to our time.
0:48:57 > 0:48:58Why do you think, Ted,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01that the Whig version of the Glorious Revolution persisted
0:49:01 > 0:49:02for such a long time?
0:49:02 > 0:49:05I think it lasted for such a long time because it was
0:49:05 > 0:49:07not just a version of history that worked
0:49:07 > 0:49:09for a particular political party,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12it was also something that really spoke to Britain's place
0:49:12 > 0:49:15in the world in the 19th century,
0:49:15 > 0:49:21and it really fitted into narratives about the growth of Britain
0:49:21 > 0:49:26as a world power, as the apex of civilisation in the world,
0:49:26 > 0:49:30as the exemplar in terms of its political institutions.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34Everything that the Revolution said about it being a founding moment,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37the creation of this British liberty,
0:49:37 > 0:49:42was really feeding into this rise to power of the British state.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45We have these soldiers and administrators straddling the globe
0:49:45 > 0:49:49with their power poses, and they think, "It all began in 1688."
0:49:49 > 0:49:50Yes, yes.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55But then Tony Benn's dissenting voice
0:49:55 > 0:49:58challenged the dominant version of events.
0:49:58 > 0:50:03Then we are told that this was the birth of our democratic rights.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08They were the people who were represented in this house in 1688,
0:50:08 > 0:50:102% was it, of rich men,
0:50:10 > 0:50:15no working people, no middle-class voters, no women.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19It was nothing to do with democracy at all.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24When did people really start to say, "Hang on,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26"it wasn't that glorious for people who were poor,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28"people who were women,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30"people who were Irish, people who were Scots,"
0:50:30 > 0:50:32when does that start coming forward?
0:50:32 > 0:50:35With the development of Marxist thought and socialist thought
0:50:35 > 0:50:37as well, focusing upon...
0:50:37 > 0:50:41No longer upon the political elite but upon
0:50:41 > 0:50:43ordinary working men and women,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45and so we start to get that being questioned.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47One other aspect there is also,
0:50:47 > 0:50:52in terms of what people define as a revolution, and so,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55as a kind of more class-based, Marxist definition
0:50:55 > 0:50:57of what a revolution was came to the fore...
0:50:57 > 0:50:59- This doesn't count.- It didn't count.
0:50:59 > 0:51:00It's not a real revolution.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04You know, we don't include this in our list of real revolutions.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09Instead, the 1640s, the Civil War, the execution of Charles I,
0:51:09 > 0:51:11this becomes the real revolution,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13and this is the thing that people should focus on,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16celebrate, talk about, try and educate people about.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21After 300 years,
0:51:21 > 0:51:241688's status as a bloodless revolution
0:51:24 > 0:51:27was questioned and revised.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31Margaret Thatcher conceded that it may have been
0:51:31 > 0:51:33a little less than glorious.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36Even great events are subject to
0:51:36 > 0:51:40constantly shifting judgements and interpretations.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44Not every legacy of 1688 is a happy one.
0:51:44 > 0:51:45Above all in Ireland.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55In the 20th century, the legacy of 1688 erupted into violence.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59Republicans versus Unionists.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04Catholics versus Protestants.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08The people of Britain and Ireland
0:52:08 > 0:52:12continue to create competing accounts of the past,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14often with tragic consequences.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23For Protestants celebrating the Battle of the Boyne,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27the hero of the drama retains his power to this day.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33His image is paraded in the Orange marches held in his name.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40And even when the marchers move on, his image remains.
0:52:43 > 0:52:49In some parts of Belfast, you can still spot images of William III.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51He is part of the fabric of the city.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56Riding about on his white horse, in his 17th-century wig and coat,
0:52:56 > 0:52:59he looks a bit incongruous in this urban environment.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03He is a long way away from the palaces and battlefields
0:53:03 > 0:53:04where he really lived.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08In Protestant Northern Ireland,
0:53:08 > 0:53:10everybody knows him by a different name.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12King Billy.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16We're taking you here to show you one of the older stained murals.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18Prince of Orange.
0:53:18 > 0:53:19Prince of Orange.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24I see King Billy is on his white horse.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28It is significant, because the first mural or wall painting of Billy
0:53:28 > 0:53:32was in east Belfast back in 1904, and he was painted on a white horse.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37His horse was never white, his horse was brown.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40A white horse would have made him a very easy target.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43The horse is white because it looks glorious, a white stallion.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46You can always see that it looks like it is walking on water,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49so that portrays him as a god type figure.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56So, Peter, who is King Billy in the minds of all his supporters?
0:53:56 > 0:54:00King Billy. Well, in certain areas, in certain areas in the city,
0:54:00 > 0:54:04if God sits here, Billy sits about 3.5 inches above him.
0:54:04 > 0:54:05That is how important he is.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09Yeah. What do Catholics think about King Billy?
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Would you like me to be honest?
0:54:11 > 0:54:12Mmm.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15When I grew up, Billy was just a hate figure.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17- A hate figure?- A hate figure for...
0:54:17 > 0:54:20Cos, well, his army defeated the Catholic army.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25- Yeah.- And the celebration, the Orangemen, July 12, the bonfires,
0:54:25 > 0:54:27most Irish Catholics see it as a
0:54:27 > 0:54:30the parades rubbing their nose in Orange dog poop
0:54:30 > 0:54:33a couple of thousand times a year. So, for one side
0:54:33 > 0:54:35he is culture and history and identity,
0:54:35 > 0:54:38and the other side he is seen as a villain.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43The Troubles that scarred Britain and Ireland
0:54:43 > 0:54:45throughout the 20th century
0:54:45 > 0:54:48are a vivid reminder that there is never
0:54:48 > 0:54:51one definitive version of history.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53And that the past is always interpreted
0:54:53 > 0:54:55through the eyes of the present.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03In 1998, the people of Northern Ireland voted for change.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Yes - 71.12%.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The Good Friday Agreement came into force,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16and tensions finally began to ease.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20At 1688 still has a powerful place in Irish culture.
0:55:22 > 0:55:27In 2007, a Jacobite musket from the Battle of the Boyne
0:55:27 > 0:55:29made a rare public appearance.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32On a joint visit to the site of the Battle of the Boyne,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley
0:55:35 > 0:55:38and the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern
0:55:38 > 0:55:40shared a photo opportunity with it.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46The gun became an unlikely prop in the peace process.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53Eight years later, the musket came up for auction here in Belfast.
0:55:54 > 0:56:00This deadly-looking thing was made at the Tower of London in 1685
0:56:00 > 0:56:02for James II's Army.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05Hence the "J2R" on the side of it there.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08It was used by a dragoon,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11almost certainly at the Battle of the Boyne.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14A dragoon is a soldier who gets off his horse to fight,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17and he fires his carbine.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19This is a sort of short musket.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22As he does so, flames come out of the end of it,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25which looks like the tongue of a dragon,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27which is why he's called a dragoon,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31and which explains the lovely little picture of a dragon
0:56:31 > 0:56:32on the side down here.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34At the auction,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37the gun was sold for a hefty £20,000
0:56:37 > 0:56:40to an anonymous telephone bidder.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43Later it came out who this had been.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46It was the Museum of Orange Heritage.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51This Jacobite gun was bought by the very people against whom
0:56:51 > 0:56:54it had originally been fired.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00The museum was adding a new chapter to detail of the revolution.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04Exhibiting this Jacobite artefact
0:57:04 > 0:57:08in an Orange institution can be seen as an attempt
0:57:08 > 0:57:12to bring the two opposing sides of history back together.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21The established account of William's Glorious Revolution
0:57:21 > 0:57:25created in the 17th century and reinforced by later history makers
0:57:25 > 0:57:28has cast a long shadow in Ireland.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32But now some light is shining in.
0:57:33 > 0:57:39Instead of reverberating to the roar of cannon fire, the charge of men,
0:57:39 > 0:57:43the shot of musket, or the clash of sword steel,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47today we have tranquillity of still water,
0:57:47 > 0:57:54where we can contemplate the past and look forward to the future.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Invitation or invasion?
0:58:00 > 0:58:03Liberator or usurper?
0:58:03 > 0:58:05Triumph or treason?
0:58:06 > 0:58:10The story of the Glorious Revolution is still being written.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15One of the biggest fibs in British history.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21Next time...
0:58:21 > 0:58:25I'm in India, discovering how the British Crown reinvented the Raj
0:58:25 > 0:58:27in the 19th century.