0:00:05 > 0:00:09The birth of a royal heir is always a historic moment.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12One day William and Kate's son will be king.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19A couple of miles across London and 300 years earlier
0:00:19 > 0:00:23the birth of another royal baby would change history.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25He was a Stuart.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Prince James was son to King James II of England
0:00:28 > 0:00:29and VII of Scotland.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Thanks a lot, thank you.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35James and his queen faced just as much speculation and interest as
0:00:35 > 0:00:36today's royal family.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40But in June 1688 there wasn't much rejoicing.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46King James was a Catholic, and now he had a Catholic heir.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Rumours spread among his Protestant subjects that the pregnancy
0:00:52 > 0:00:55had been a fake, and this baby had been smuggled into the royal
0:00:55 > 0:00:59bed-chamber in a warming pan.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Six months later his father had lost the crown,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and fled for his life to France.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11# And down will come baby
0:01:11 > 0:01:15# Cradle and all. #
0:01:18 > 0:01:22The final, dramatic act of the Stuart century saw
0:01:22 > 0:01:25the royal family fatally divided by religion - brother head-to-head
0:01:25 > 0:01:30against brother, and two daughters facing their father in open war.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34By the early 18th century these bitter conflicts
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and the absence of a Protestant heir
0:01:37 > 0:01:40would lead to the end of Stuart rule and, extraordinarily,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43the almost incidental creation of Great Britain.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55This was a century of struggle marked by religious divisions,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58bloody revolution and conflicting visions of what Britain would be.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05A struggle that has echoes today.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29This is Flamsteed House at the Royal Observatory Greenwich,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32built for Charles II by Christopher Wren.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36It's a handsome building and might seem like a gorgeous jeu d'esprit
0:02:36 > 0:02:38for an intellectually curious king.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42An octagonal observatory to study the stars
0:02:42 > 0:02:44but it couldn't be more practical.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Mastery of the heavens led to mastery of navigation.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51And mastery of navigation led to mastery of the seas.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54King Charles' merchant ships brought him wealth
0:02:54 > 0:02:59and his navy kept his three kingdoms safe - at least that was the theory.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08For the last two decades, England had been fighting the Dutch
0:03:08 > 0:03:12over trade routes, spheres of influence and money.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19In 1667, in an audacious and daring move, a Dutch war fleet
0:03:19 > 0:03:22brought the fight onto Charles II's doorstep.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25It sailed into the mouth of the Thames,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30down the Medway to the Royal Dockyards at Chatham.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35The English navy engaged the Dutch in battle, but the Dutch
0:03:35 > 0:03:38broke through the massive iron chain stretched across the river
0:03:38 > 0:03:40here to protect the English fleet.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44Several warships were destroyed,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and as a final humiliation, the Dutch captured the flagship
0:03:48 > 0:03:51The Royal Charles and towed it home to the Netherlands as booty.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Many wealthy Londoners fled the city, believing that Charles
0:03:59 > 0:04:02was about to lose his throne to a Dutch invasion.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10It was a devastating defeat.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13If the King's navy couldn't even secure its own flagship, what
0:04:13 > 0:04:17hope was there for the security of Charles' three kingdoms?
0:04:17 > 0:04:19And it was also a personal blow for Charles,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23whose stinginess in paying for the navy was contrasted
0:04:23 > 0:04:27with his lush extravagance in more decadent areas of court life.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Only seven years after his Restoration, serious questions
0:04:30 > 0:04:34were now being asked about Charles' competence as king.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Charles had lived through exile and his own father's execution.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45He knew from bitter personal experience how bad things
0:04:45 > 0:04:48could get if the King went head-to-head
0:04:48 > 0:04:50with a hostile Parliament.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00He understood that if anything was going to topple him
0:05:00 > 0:05:02it would be religion.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06He walked a tightrope between the anti-Catholicism
0:05:06 > 0:05:11of his Parliament and his own more tolerant attitude.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20The King needed an ally against the Dutch.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25For Charles, there was only one natural choice - France.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29France was the European superpower and its mighty king,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Louis XIV, was Charles' cousin.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37So Charles began a diplomatic dance with France.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41But he was playing with fire.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45The King was head of the Church of England.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Many of his subjects would be horrified by the idea
0:05:48 > 0:05:51of an alliance with Catholic France.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Charles knew that a public alliance between England
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and France was unthinkable
0:05:58 > 0:06:01but some sort of private deal, that was a different matter.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09To help with the negotiations, Charles turned to
0:06:09 > 0:06:13one of his most trusted ministers, Lord Clifford.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18There's a portrait of Thomas, First Lord Clifford
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and I'm number 14.
0:06:20 > 0:06:26And if you look around this side you see his boss, his king, Charles II.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31And this is a fascinating box for the First Lord Clifford to
0:06:31 > 0:06:33carry really secret documents in.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38When he was travelling around in his coach, whether it be in London
0:06:38 > 0:06:44or whether coming back to his home in Devon, he would be able to screw
0:06:44 > 0:06:50this into the base of the coach, so there's no question of anybody
0:06:50 > 0:06:54being able to just quickly slide it out, "thank you very much indeed".
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Why did this need to be so secure, this box?
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Well, that is for the Secret Treaty of Dover.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09The 1670 Treaty of Dover was political dynamite.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15By the treaty, Louis XIV agreed to pay Charles a large sum of money
0:07:15 > 0:07:20in return for England joining France in another war against the Dutch.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26And Louis promised another £200,000 if Charles publicly converted
0:07:26 > 0:07:27to Catholicism.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32What would have been the reaction in 1670
0:07:32 > 0:07:34if people had found out about this treaty?
0:07:34 > 0:07:38The reaction of Parliament to that, as well as the nation,
0:07:38 > 0:07:43it would have been regarded as treachery to the greatest degree,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46and I think that was something, of course,
0:07:46 > 0:07:47that Charles couldn't afford.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Across the three kingdoms there was huge paranoia
0:07:54 > 0:07:56about the Catholic threat.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00The closest contemporary parallel might be Western anxiety
0:08:00 > 0:08:02about Islamic extremism.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09This fear ran deep and strong through the century.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11And for good reason.
0:08:11 > 0:08:1482 years earlier a Catholic power had tried
0:08:14 > 0:08:17to invade England with the Spanish Armada.
0:08:21 > 0:08:2565 years before, Catholic terrorists had tried to blow up
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Parliament with the Gunpowder Plot.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Four years before, most Londoners wrongly believed Catholic
0:08:33 > 0:08:36arsonists had been responsible for the Great Fire of London.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Charles had little time for this intolerance.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50After all, his own mother,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54his wife and his brother, James, were Catholic,
0:08:54 > 0:08:59but he knew his own conversion was politically impossible.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10What Louis really wanted from Charles, what
0:09:10 > 0:09:12he was really paying for, wasn't Charles' conversion to
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Catholicism, it was Charles' military support.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19So without consulting Parliament Charles did what he'd agreed
0:09:19 > 0:09:21to do in the Secret Treaty of Dover.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25He declared war on the Dutch in alliance with Louis XIV.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32England was now fighting a European war on the side of Catholic France.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43By now, Charles had been married to the Catholic Catherine
0:09:43 > 0:09:47of Braganza for ten years without having had any children.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Poor Catherine.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53The personal sadness of infertility was only made worse by her
0:09:53 > 0:09:57husband's repeated success in siring healthy bastards with other women.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00At least a dozen of them.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Throughout his reign, Charles had a series of Catholic mistresses.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09He knew how anxious this made people,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12but he didn't keep them hidden, far from it.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18This is Barbara Villiers, who was
0:10:18 > 0:10:22his main mistress in the first part of his reign and she bore him
0:10:22 > 0:10:27probably five children, possibly six children.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29And she's shown here as
0:10:29 > 0:10:35the Virgin Mary, and her son by the King is shown with her as Christ.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41In some ways, it could be seen as a really bad taste joke.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44If Catherine had seen this picture, which presumably
0:10:44 > 0:10:48she would've done in some form, it must've been particularly
0:10:48 > 0:10:52galling because there's her rival celebrating her own children
0:10:52 > 0:10:57by the King and the Queen, of course, unable to have children.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01And also to see Barbara Villiers, who was also one of her
0:11:01 > 0:11:03ladies of the bed chamber, so Barbara
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and Catherine were together a lot of the time.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08To see her painted as the Virgin
0:11:08 > 0:11:12and Child must have been the most outrageously offensive thing.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Members of Parliament wanted to make it clear
0:11:19 > 0:11:22to their monarch that there were firm limits on Catholicism.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27So in 1673 they passed the Test Act.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29And because Charles needed them to give him
0:11:29 > 0:11:32more money for the Dutch wars, which weren't going as well as he'd
0:11:32 > 0:11:35hoped, he reluctantly agreed to sign it.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40The Test Act was aimed squarely at James,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Charles' Catholic younger brother.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47# The Lord be with you
0:11:47 > 0:11:53# And with your spirit lift up your hearts. #
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Anyone who wanted to hold public office had to deny
0:11:56 > 0:11:59transubstantiation -
0:11:59 > 0:12:02that the communion bread and wine turns into the body
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and blood of Christ.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08A key tenet of the Catholic faith.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14In other words, you couldn't hold a government job and be a Catholic.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17The English Parliament had drawn a line in the sand.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20So James stepped over it.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22James, Duke of York,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and heir presumptive to the three kingdoms of England Scotland
0:12:24 > 0:12:28and Ireland resigned his post of Lord High Admiral.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32The man next in line to be king had been barred from holding office
0:12:32 > 0:12:35by the English Parliament because of his Catholicism.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44I think Charles' personal attitude to religion was
0:12:44 > 0:12:47like his attitude to many things - fairly relaxed.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51But he understood how anxious having a Catholic heir
0:12:51 > 0:12:53made his Protestant subjects.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58So he made sure that James' two daughters, Mary
0:12:58 > 0:13:02and Anne, were brought up as Anglicans.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06After James, the Stuart line would be Protestant once again.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20In the 17th century, there was no such thing as a royal love match.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Marriages were strategic, they had to be.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27The Anglo-French invasion of the Netherlands had failed.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Charles made peace with the Dutch and to seal the deal he married
0:13:33 > 0:13:37off James' eldest daughter Mary to her Dutch cousin, William of Orange.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44William was the man who had stopped Louis XIV from taking over
0:13:44 > 0:13:45the Netherlands.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49William was a force to be reckoned with.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Charles had made a brilliant move.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Mary's marriage was a new alliance with an old enemy.
0:14:02 > 0:14:03Mary was 15.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Her cousin, William, was 12 years older than her but four
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and a half inches shorter, physically unattractive,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13and with a distinct lack of personal charm.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16When the engagement was arranged, Mary cried non-stop for a day
0:14:16 > 0:14:20and a night, but tears made no difference.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22Although news of the match was greeted with
0:14:22 > 0:14:24anxiety in the Netherlands -
0:14:24 > 0:14:27on account of the Catholicism of Mary's father and the immoral
0:14:27 > 0:14:29lifestyle of her uncle Charles II -
0:14:29 > 0:14:32in Britain the match was hugely popular.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36It seemed to confirm that Charles wasn't bent on Catholicism.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40But paranoia about the Catholic threat didn't go away.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49A year later, a failed schoolmaster called Titus Oates came
0:14:49 > 0:14:52forward to the authorities with an extraordinary tale.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58A Catholic plot to take over the three kingdoms -
0:14:58 > 0:15:02illustrated here in this pack of contemporary playing cards.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Titus said he was a Catholic double agent.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13He said Jesuit priests disguised as Presbyterian ministers were
0:15:13 > 0:15:16heading to Scotland to stir up rebellion.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19He said Charles would be assassinated,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and then the Catholics would set fire to London.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Titus Oates was a fantasist, with a personal grudge against Catholics,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34who he blamed for everything that had gone wrong in his life.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Oates appeared before the Privy Council for interrogation.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44The King himself came to question him.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Charles doubted Oates' increasingly elaborate
0:15:47 > 0:15:52and inconsistent story, but he couldn't dismiss it entirely.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53Oates had claimed that James'
0:15:53 > 0:15:56personal secretary was one of the plotters.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Charles couldn't risk being suspected of a cover-up
0:16:00 > 0:16:02if his brother was somehow involved.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11We believe a story, however flimsy, if it fits with our deepest fears.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19The Popish Plot fuelled an explosion of anti-Catholicism.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26The Pope was burned in effigy in London, Oxford, Salisbury
0:16:26 > 0:16:28and Edinburgh.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Memories of Catholic crimes were revived to stoke the flames.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Every November 5th we still remember a failed Catholic
0:16:42 > 0:16:45terrorist attack earlier in the century.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Parliament continued to investigate the twists and turns of Titus Oates'
0:16:59 > 0:17:00conspiracy theory.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06At one point Oates even implicated Queen Catherine
0:17:06 > 0:17:11but this was too much for Charles, who put him under house arrest.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Oates quickly withdrew the accusation.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16But he stuck firm to the rest of his tale.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20And the Popish Plot quickly became the pretext for the real
0:17:20 > 0:17:22political business of trying to prevent
0:17:22 > 0:17:26the Catholic James from becoming King when his brother died.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32James' opponents needed an alternative candidate.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36And they had one.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39This is James Duke of Monmouth the eldest of Charles'
0:17:39 > 0:17:42extensive brood of illegitimate children.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45He's shown here fighting for his father in the Netherlands.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49A military prowess aside, Monmouth was everything that his uncle
0:17:49 > 0:17:50James wasn't.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55Charismatic, popular and Protestant.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Mobs of Monmouth supporters built huge bonfires on the London
0:18:02 > 0:18:07streets, chanting "No Popish successor, no York,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09"a Monmouth! A Monmouth!"
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Charles called a new Parliament here in Oxford in 1681 to get
0:18:18 > 0:18:21away from the turmoil of London.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Divisions in Parliament were hardening into two factions,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29the beginnings of our modern political parties.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Tories, who championed the established Church,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36and the power of the Monarchy, and Whigs who wanted greater
0:18:36 > 0:18:41toleration of non-conformists and parliamentary checks on royal power.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46The Whig party was still pushing to exclude
0:18:46 > 0:18:50James from the succession, but Charles had had enough.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54After just one week, he hid the robes of state in a sedan chair
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and tucked the crown between his legs.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01As MPs settled down for more rounds of acrimonious debate, Charles
0:19:01 > 0:19:05whipped out the robes and crown and caught his opponents off guard.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07He dissolved the Parliament, quickly left Oxford -
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and never called another English Parliament again.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Charles wanted to remove his brother from the tension in England
0:19:25 > 0:19:28so he packed James off to run Scotland.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35James used to come here to Leith to play golf and escape
0:19:35 > 0:19:38the stresses of government. You might expect him to have found
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Scotland a pretty inhospitable place, it was a country riven
0:19:42 > 0:19:47by divisions between the established Church and dissenting Presbyterians.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49But actually he did a pretty good job here.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53That's partly because the Scots were predisposed to like him.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55The Stuarts were after all a Scottish dynasty,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58and James was here, on the spot,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01not ruling Scotland by remote control from London.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Under James' presidency the Edinburgh Parliament here
0:20:09 > 0:20:10passed a Succession Act.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16It guaranteed that James would be the next King of Scotland.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19So if England didn't make James king
0:20:19 > 0:20:23when Charles died, the union of the three crowns would be over.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30But there were some who wanted to make sure that
0:20:30 > 0:20:32James would never be king.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43In June 1683, Charles and James were enjoying the races at Newmarket.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Meanwhile a group of conspirators gathered at Rye House,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55on the King's road home to London, and plotted an ambush.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03They would assassinate James and Charles,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and make the Duke of Monmouth king.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12But Charles left the races early, and the plot was discovered.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19It's not clear if Monmouth himself was involved in the plot,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22but he was indicted for treason and fled to the Netherlands.
0:21:29 > 0:21:35I think Charles' life can be seen as a series of lucky escapes.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39From the oak tree where he hid from Cromwell's troops, to the
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Rye House plot 33 years later,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Charles outwitted his opponents and outran his killers.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51He always knew the glue that held his kingdoms together was
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Protestantism.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Charles never underestimated the political dimensions of religious
0:21:57 > 0:22:02faith, and he understood exactly how much he could get away with.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11In February 1685, Charles lay dying in his bed.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15On his last evening, James arranged for a Catholic priest to be
0:22:15 > 0:22:16smuggled in.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Charles, Head of the Church of England, confessed his sins
0:22:20 > 0:22:22and took Communion.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26James had brought his brother to the Catholic faith.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Now he was nearly their king,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31could he persuade his new subjects to do likewise?
0:22:42 > 0:22:45In April 1685, on St George's Day,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50King James II was crowned here in Westminster Abbey.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52In Scotland he became King James VII
0:22:52 > 0:22:57though he didn't return north for a separate coronation.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59But the three kingdoms now had a Catholic monarch.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04And at first, it didn't seem as bad as some had feared.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10James gave a conciliatory speech to the Privy Council.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15He promised he would, "Preserve this government both in Church
0:23:15 > 0:23:19"and State as is now by law established."
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Parliament quickly published the speech
0:23:25 > 0:23:27and intended to hold him to it.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33James was in his 50s with
0:23:33 > 0:23:36no surviving children by his second wife.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39So his heir remained his elder daughter Mary from his first
0:23:39 > 0:23:41marriage. She was a good protestant herself,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45and married to another good protestant William of Orange.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47So having a Catholic monarch looked as
0:23:47 > 0:23:49though it would just be a temporary blip.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58At the time of Charles' death the Duke of Monmouth was staying
0:23:58 > 0:24:01with William and Mary here in The Hague.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08Mary and Monmouth liked each other and used to go ice-skating together.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12But her father, the new King James, asked William to arrest Monmouth.
0:24:13 > 0:24:20William didn't oblige. James was right to be worried about Monmouth.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25In June he sailed to England to try and take his uncle's crown by force.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Monmouth landed on the Dorset coast with only three ships
0:24:31 > 0:24:33and 83 men.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Monmouth was relying on a massive popular uprising
0:24:36 > 0:24:42against James, but by the time he faced James' royal troops
0:24:42 > 0:24:50at Sedgemoor in Somerset, he'd only raised an army of 3,000 men.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52He was out-numbered,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54out-manoveured,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56and out-gunned.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Although he had always been a hugely popular figure,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05when push came to shove, the country showed it wasn't prepared to
0:25:05 > 0:25:08revisit the trauma of civil war.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Military defeat brought immediate retribution.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21Monmouth himself escaped,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24but was captured and executed in London nine days after
0:25:24 > 0:25:25the rebellion.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30Here in Somerset, the aftermath was gruesome and bloody.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37500 rebels, many of them wounded, were rounded up
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and held in this church.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Then the notorious Judge Jeffreys was dispatched to preside
0:25:43 > 0:25:46over what became known as the Bloody Assizes
0:25:46 > 0:25:49where nearly 1,300 men were tried in just 9 days.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Many rebels were executed in their local villages
0:25:54 > 0:25:59and their bodies hung in the streets as a clear deterrent to
0:25:59 > 0:26:03anyone even thinking about challenging James' right to be king.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10The King may have eliminated Monmouth and crushed the rebellion.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14But the main threat to James was James himself.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29James began pushing his three kingdoms towards the Catholic faith.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Ireland had remained stubbornly resistant to the
0:26:33 > 0:26:38Protestant reformation, so it was a natural place to start.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44The man he chose to do the job was a trusted deputy,
0:26:44 > 0:26:45the Earl of Tyrconnell.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Here in Dublin, Tyrconnell launched a determined attempt to
0:26:51 > 0:26:54restore Catholic dominance and to reverse the land losses
0:26:54 > 0:26:57suffered by Catholics during the Civil Wars.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01He radically reconstructed the Irish army, purging Protestants
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and recruiting Catholics until around two thirds of the rank
0:27:04 > 0:27:08and file and 40% of the officers were Catholic.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11And it wasn't just the army. Tyrconnell also packed
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Catholics into the judiciary, local government and civil service.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21For many in England, James's Catholicisation of Ireland
0:27:21 > 0:27:24seemed like a grim warning of what was to come.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Unlike his brother, James had no charm and no subtlety.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34He alienated Whigs and Tories alike, sacking many of those who
0:27:34 > 0:27:37spoke out against him, including the Bishop of London.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42James turned the Stuart Monarchy into the enemy
0:27:42 > 0:27:44of its Protestant subjects.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51As James' Catholicisation drive intensified, James' opponents
0:27:51 > 0:27:56increasingly looked to his heir Mary and William for support.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Delegations of English politicians even held top-secret talks with
0:28:00 > 0:28:04William to sound out his willingness to get involved in English politics.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06And, at the same time,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08the Netherlands became home to growing numbers of Scottish
0:28:08 > 0:28:12and English opponents of James' regime forced into exile.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Since the 7th century, St Winefride's Well in North Wales
0:28:26 > 0:28:28has been a place of pilgrimage.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40In 1687, James came to bathe in the holy waters here
0:28:40 > 0:28:44because he needed a personal miracle.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46He wanted a son.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Later that year, James' queen fell pregnant.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01To James, this was a clear sign God was on his side.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04But to his subjects, their worst fears were being realised.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11The birth of a son might mean a continuing Catholic monarchy
0:29:11 > 0:29:14James' protestant daughter Anne wrote to tell her sister
0:29:14 > 0:29:19Mary that the queen's "great belly is a little suspicious.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21"I believe when she is brought to bed,
0:29:21 > 0:29:27"nobody will be convinced it is her child, except it prove a daughter."
0:29:27 > 0:29:29The rumours spread.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38People talk about intrusion into the private lives of the royal family
0:29:38 > 0:29:42as though it's a modern phenomenon. They couldn't be more wrong.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54Back in 1688, King James made the queen give birth in this
0:29:54 > 0:29:57bed in front of more than 40 witnesses.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02James wasn't being an exhibitionist.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04He knew how crucial it was that
0:30:04 > 0:30:08if this baby was a boy everyone would have seen the birth and
0:30:08 > 0:30:13know it was his real, legitimate son and next-in-line to the throne.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21The baby was born. It was healthy.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26And it was a boy. James' prayers were answered.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30But you should be careful what you wish for.
0:30:32 > 0:30:3520 days after baby James was born, William of Orange
0:30:35 > 0:30:40received a letter from seven of the most important men in England -
0:30:40 > 0:30:44five Whigs and two Tories including the sacked Bishop of London.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48The letter said that James' subjects were "dissatisfied with the
0:30:48 > 0:30:51"present conduct of the government", that the "religion, liberties
0:30:51 > 0:30:54and properties" of Protestants had been "greatly invaded" under James
0:30:54 > 0:30:58and that "not one in a thousand believe the baby to be the queen's."
0:30:59 > 0:31:03William was also told they would support his wife Mary's claim to the
0:31:03 > 0:31:09throne...were he to invade England with sufficient military force.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14William was an instinctively cautious man.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17He didn't want to repeat the mistakes that Monmouth had made
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and turn up with just a handful of soldiers.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25Instead he put together a huge expeditionary force
0:31:25 > 0:31:29of 460 warships, 5,000 horse and 15,000 men.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36It was a dangerous business. The autumn seas were stormy.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Who knows what reception he'd receive on landing.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Before he departed, William told his wife Mary that
0:31:45 > 0:31:47if he was killed, she should marry again.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56He set off on October 19th but the wind blew him back into port.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01James saw this as a sign of divine providence.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05"I see God Almighty continues his Protection to me," he wrote,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08"by bringing the wind westerly."
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Two weeks later William tried again.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16This time the wind was easterly. A Protestant wind.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21You can just imagine the farmers and fishermen here looking out to
0:32:21 > 0:32:25sea and seeing that huge fleet approaching the shore.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31Around 460 warships under sail - it must have been a terrifying sight.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35And there was no force to stop them.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37The easterly Protestant winds blowing William's ships
0:32:37 > 0:32:42towards Devon were also keeping the English navy firmly in harbour.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57History has rewritten William's landing in England.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02His takeover of the three kingdoms is known as the Glorious Revolution.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05There's even a statue to him here in Brixham.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10The English are fond of claiming that they haven't been invaded since
0:33:10 > 0:33:14William the Conqueror in 1066 but there's no other word for it.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16This was the last successful military invasion
0:33:16 > 0:33:18of the British Isles.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Today Salisbury Plain is used for military exercises.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36In 1688 King James rode out at the head of his army to
0:33:36 > 0:33:37confront his son-in-law here.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44James had numerical superiority, he had the home advantage.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49He'd spent his early years in France as a highly successful
0:33:49 > 0:33:51professional soldier.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53This should have been his moment of triumph.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58He stayed under the shadow of the massive Anglican
0:33:58 > 0:34:02cathedral in the Bishop of Salisbury's Palace.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07James arrives here, at Salisbury, the idea being that he
0:34:07 > 0:34:12could now act as a rallying point for his officers.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16What he didn't realise, and was going to become pretty obvious
0:34:16 > 0:34:18during the next few days,
0:34:18 > 0:34:23is that most of his officers were intent on changing sides to William.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30James, that night, came into this chapel to pray...
0:34:30 > 0:34:34and at that moment had his nosebleed.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38His nose began to pour, it went on and on.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45James' nosebleed means that he can't go to Warminster to
0:34:45 > 0:34:49review his troops that are there and rally them against William,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53which could have possibly have led to a marvellous full-scale battle.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58And that would have been rather interesting as James' army
0:34:58 > 0:35:01outnumbered William's by at least two to one.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05But as things panned out everything dropped into William's lap
0:35:05 > 0:35:07and it all worked perfectly.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19James had what in modern terms we'd probably call a nervous breakdown.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24There was no confrontation and no battle.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28The only blood shed in Salisbury flowed from James' nose.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31William's chaplain and a later Bishop of Salisbury, Gilbert Burnet,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35put it rather well. James' "whole strength, like a spider's web,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39"was so irrevocably broken with a touch, that he was never able to
0:35:39 > 0:35:44"retrieve what for want of judgment and heart he threw up in a day."
0:35:47 > 0:35:51You can't help feeling sorry for James - his father had been
0:35:51 > 0:35:55deposed and executed. He must have feared for his own neck.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01He threw the Great Seal of England into the River Thames, hoping
0:36:01 > 0:36:04to make government impossible, and fled for France.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Now William announced to Parliament's leaders that he
0:36:10 > 0:36:12would not rule through Mary.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17If he was not made king he would "go back to Holland
0:36:17 > 0:36:19"and meddle no more in their affairs."
0:36:23 > 0:36:26Just over 20 years previously, the Dutch Navy had terrified
0:36:26 > 0:36:30the country by sailing into the Royal Dockyards at Chatham
0:36:30 > 0:36:32and towing away the Royal flagship.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Now William of Orange had marched into London with 15,000 Dutch troops
0:36:36 > 0:36:39and demanded the Crown itself.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Parliament had to agree but tried to limit his power.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49The Declaration of Rights
0:36:49 > 0:36:54laid down rules for freedom of speech, called for regular elections
0:36:54 > 0:36:58and the right to petition the monarch without fear of retribution.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03It still underpins English law.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09The Declaration of Rights was basically a job description
0:37:09 > 0:37:12for future English monarchs.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15How seriously did William and Mary take it?
0:37:15 > 0:37:16Well, it was read aloud to them
0:37:16 > 0:37:20when Parliament formally offered them the crown,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24meaning William tacitly agreed to the limits it put on his power.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29William was used to negotiating with Parliament.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31He was never king of the Netherlands,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34he was a Stathoulder, an appointed position.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37Being Stathoulder
0:37:37 > 0:37:40didn't give you the power to tell anyone what to do.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43The sovereign power, in the Netherlands, were the various
0:37:43 > 0:37:46representative assemblies of the different provinces.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50And in order to get anything done in the Netherlands, William had
0:37:50 > 0:37:53to negotiate with those representative assemblies.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57So he was somebody who was actually quite skilled in dealing with
0:37:57 > 0:37:59Parliament-like bodies.
0:37:59 > 0:38:00I think that really gives him
0:38:00 > 0:38:02a conception of what it is to be a ruler
0:38:02 > 0:38:06and how to be a successful ruler, very different from the earlier
0:38:06 > 0:38:10Stuarts who were perhaps more concerned to preserve the majesty
0:38:10 > 0:38:13of kingship to preserve their power, their prerogatives, didn't
0:38:13 > 0:38:18have this tradition, this experience of negotiating, compromising,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22realising what it was to work with representatives of your people.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25- So what were William's motivations in coming to England?- Well, I think
0:38:25 > 0:38:29to understand William you have to realise he's got three priorities.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31The first is to defeat Louis XIV.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34The second is to defeat Louis XIV.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37And the third is to preserve his own power and grandeur,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40and that of the Stuart monarchy when he gets hold of it, but only in
0:38:40 > 0:38:43so far as that's compatible with defeating Louis XIV.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46So I think he really wanted to come to England in order to mobilise the
0:38:46 > 0:38:50resources of this country in his great struggle with the French king.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56So ironically the shift towards a more powerful English
0:38:56 > 0:39:00Parliament under William was just an accidental by-product
0:39:00 > 0:39:04of a pan-European struggle between the Netherlands and France.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Louis XIV was hosting the exiled James in France.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23How glorious Versailles must have seemed after chilly,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25miserable, Protestant England.
0:39:28 > 0:39:35Louis XIV, the Sun King, was everything James aspired to be.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39An absolute monarch, a Catholic, a success.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44By 1688, Louis had been on his throne for 45 years.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Poor James hadn't even managed four.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Louis was determined that James would be king again.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Not from motives of personal fondness or concerns
0:39:55 > 0:39:59about England's well-being, but because of European power politics.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02On the giant international chessboard,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06William's daring seizure of England had given the Dutch, Louis'
0:40:06 > 0:40:09greatest enemy, a huge strategic advantage.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Louis needed James to retrieve his thrones
0:40:12 > 0:40:16so he stiffened James' resolve, put up the finance
0:40:16 > 0:40:19and packed James off to Ireland at the head of an army.
0:40:25 > 0:40:31James landed in Cork in March 1689 and was received with open arms
0:40:31 > 0:40:35throughout the Catholic heartlands of the south and east.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40But Protestant Ulster firmly, and not for the last time, said no.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Over the 17th century, plantation projects had entrenched
0:40:52 > 0:40:57Protestantism in Northern towns like Enniskillen and Londonderry.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00For three brief years, James' Catholicisation drive had
0:41:00 > 0:41:04undermined this until William's dramatic landing in England
0:41:04 > 0:41:07swung the pendulum back towards Protestantism.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Now the landing of French troops in southern Ireland had raised
0:41:10 > 0:41:12Catholic hopes once again.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15But for James to take full control of Ireland, he'd need to win
0:41:15 > 0:41:18the northern Protestant stronghold of Londonderry.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25On 18th April, James and his army reached the city,
0:41:25 > 0:41:27which barred its gates to the king.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Every August the Apprentice Boys' Parade commemorates the long siege
0:41:41 > 0:41:42that followed.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52The city held out against James and his army for 105 days.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55And people began to starve.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02This is a true account of the siege of Londonderry
0:42:02 > 0:42:04written by the Reverend George Walker
0:42:04 > 0:42:06and it makes chilling reading.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Horse flesh sold for one shilling and eight pence a pound.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13A quarter of a dog, five shillings and sixpence,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17fattened by feeding on the bodies of the slain Irish.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21A dog's head, two shillings and sixpence.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25A rat, one shilling, and a mouse, sixpence
0:42:30 > 0:42:34William sent three ships stocked with provisions.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38They sailed through enemy fire and broke the massive
0:42:38 > 0:42:41blockade that James' army had built across the river.
0:42:43 > 0:42:44The siege was ended.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56But the rest of Ireland remained loyal to James.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59William might have won England without bloodshed, but
0:42:59 > 0:43:03if he wanted to be King of Ireland he would have to fight for it.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10William's forces landed at Carrickfergus in June 1690
0:43:10 > 0:43:13and marched south to meet James.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15William's and James' two armies then met for the first
0:43:15 > 0:43:20and only time in pitched battle on the banks of the River Boyne.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22This was a battle within a family.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24William was taking on his own father-in-law.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27But it was also a major international war to
0:43:27 > 0:43:30determine the European balance of power.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34James' army was made up of Catholic Irish and French soldiers.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36William's much larger army was made
0:43:36 > 0:43:40up of English, Scots, Germans, Swiss, Danish, Norwegian,
0:43:40 > 0:43:45and French Huguenot soldiers as well as his own elite Dutch Blue Guards.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53This is where King James' Jacobite army pitched camp
0:43:53 > 0:43:55before the battle.
0:43:57 > 0:43:58It started off with
0:43:58 > 0:44:02this very, very heavy mist hanging over the river, and then that would
0:44:02 > 0:44:05have burnt off over the course of the morning, but William used that
0:44:05 > 0:44:10mist and the cover of it to move 10,000 of his soldiers towards
0:44:10 > 0:44:14Slane in a flanking manoeuvre, to come in on James' left flank.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18At ten o'clock the Dutch Blue Guards crossed at King William's Glen
0:44:18 > 0:44:21and forded the river there, came in to Oldbridge village,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23and then over the course of the morning,
0:44:23 > 0:44:27literally wave upon wave of about 2,6000 Williamite soldiers
0:44:27 > 0:44:30came across the river, using the islands in the river
0:44:30 > 0:44:35and engaged with the Jacobites on the south bank of the River Boyne.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37And then where we're standing now, and as we look down towards
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Drybridge, this is where the final crossing took place with
0:44:41 > 0:44:44King William himself coming across in the early afternoon when
0:44:44 > 0:44:50the tide was on its way back out and both armies met up here around the
0:44:50 > 0:44:54Jacobite camp, very intense fighting for about half an hour, and then
0:44:54 > 0:44:57the Jacobites were pushed back.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59It was a decisive Williamite victory.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08After the Battle of the Boyne, James returned to France.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15The Irish had a new name for him - Seamus al Caca, James the shit.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23William of Orange, King Billy, still has a huge symbolic importance
0:45:23 > 0:45:27here in Ulster today, where he's seen as a Protestant hero.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36William took power in England with barely a shot being fired
0:45:36 > 0:45:39but his conquest of Ireland was anything but bloodless.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46Thousands of soldiers were killed in battle
0:45:46 > 0:45:50and many more died through disease and starvation.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02Meanwhile, in Scotland, William's troops were suppressing
0:46:02 > 0:46:06the first Jacobite rebellion, fought by Highlanders loyal to James,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08their Stuart King.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13William successfully subdued all opposition in England
0:46:13 > 0:46:17and Ireland but in Scotland tiny pockets of resistance held
0:46:17 > 0:46:19out for the next 50 years.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25In the Highlands, the Fort of Inverlochy was garrisoned with
0:46:25 > 0:46:3020-foot high stone walls, 15 guns and barracks for a thousand men.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35It was re-named Fort William after the King.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48This is the ante-chamber built by King William at Hampton Court.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53This is where you waited to see the King.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55And I think it tells you everything you need to know about
0:46:55 > 0:46:57William's style of monarchy.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01He's got rid of the French tapestries,
0:47:01 > 0:47:05the lush portraits of mistresses that his predecessors favoured.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Just look at it. This is a man of war.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18A man who built up one of the biggest land armies England
0:47:18 > 0:47:21had ever seen for his campaign against Louis XIV.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33This is the chateau at St Germaine. It used to be Louis' residence
0:47:33 > 0:47:37until he upgraded to Versailles and gave this to James.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41So James lived here like a king but a king without a kingdom.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45A king of style of shadows but no substance.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Not bad, though, is it, for a man who'd lost everything?
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Louis gave James a palace because he needed him to look like a king.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04The king across the water, the Stuart thorn in William's side.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13James lived in exile, refusing ever to consider the one
0:48:13 > 0:48:16thing that might have retrieved the crown for his own son.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24He insisted on bringing up young James, the rightful heir,
0:48:24 > 0:48:25as a devout Catholic.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38James died in St Germaine.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44His tombstone reads, "The man who once wore a crown now rests
0:48:44 > 0:48:46"as dust here.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50"What good is a throne? Death wears away all things."
0:49:07 > 0:49:10This is the Royal Naval College in Greenwich,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13originally commissioned by William as a home for retired sailors
0:49:13 > 0:49:15and designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27At the centre of the Painted Hall are William and Mary,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29enthroned in triumph.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37Mary died of small pox in 1694.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41This awkward couple might not have been that close
0:49:41 > 0:49:45when they married, but now William risked infection, tending
0:49:45 > 0:49:50her on her deathbed and spent over £100,000 on her funeral.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01Mary died childless so William's heir was Mary's younger sister Anne.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07Anne and her husband had only one living child.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09But three days after his 11th birthday
0:50:09 > 0:50:11he caught small pox and died.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17This was, of course, a personal tragedy.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20But it was also a constitutional crisis.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24There was no Protestant heir. So in June 1701,
0:50:24 > 0:50:27the English Parliament passed an Act of Settlement.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34This ruled that Anne would not be succeeded by
0:50:34 > 0:50:37her Catholic half-brother, James Stuart, but by a Hanoverian,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40one of her German second cousins.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46The Act of Settlement went further than that. It explicitly
0:50:46 > 0:50:48banned Catholics from the English throne.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52This is still the law today.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06When William died in 1702,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08his sister-in-law, Anne, was proclaimed Queen.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17In her first parliamentary speech she said, "I know my own
0:51:17 > 0:51:18"heart to be entirely English,"
0:51:18 > 0:51:21which played well in England after years
0:51:21 > 0:51:25of a Dutch king but it didn't sound so good north of the border.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37The Scottish Parliament gave Queen Anne a warm Edinburgh welcome
0:51:37 > 0:51:40by passing an Act of Security.
0:51:40 > 0:51:41This is it.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46The act was intended to send a clear message to Anne
0:51:46 > 0:51:47and her English ministers.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52It stated that on Anne's death the Scottish crown would pass to
0:51:52 > 0:51:55a Protestant but not the Hanoverian line,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58unless Anne's ministry guaranteed certain safeguards.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02These included the frequent and free meeting of the Scottish Parliament,
0:52:02 > 0:52:06and the freedom of Scots to trade without English interference.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09If not, on Anne's death, the English
0:52:09 > 0:52:12and Scottish crowns would pass to different successors.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15This placed the two kingdoms on a collision course.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18The uneasy partnership of regal union that had survived
0:52:18 > 0:52:21since 1603 might soon be over.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28For England, this created a huge potential danger.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Its old enemy France could ally with Scotland
0:52:31 > 0:52:33and invade England from the north.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39This had to be avoided at all costs
0:52:39 > 0:52:43so Anne's ministers quickly drew up plans for an Anglo-Scottish Union.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50And north of the border, a window of opportunity opened.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Five years earlier many Scots had taken a massive
0:52:56 > 0:52:59hit on an unwise speculation.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06They'd punted 25% of the entire country's wealth on a risky
0:53:06 > 0:53:08overseas investment.
0:53:08 > 0:53:09The Darien Scheme.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16This was a trading post set up in Panama to give the Scots
0:53:16 > 0:53:19a foothold in the East Indies' spice markets.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23It failed...spectacularly.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32Scotland was hurting. It needed a bail-out.
0:53:34 > 0:53:35England could help.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Some of the Scots who lost money over Darien were offered
0:53:40 > 0:53:44compensation, but more importantly, Scotland was offered free
0:53:44 > 0:53:46trade with England and its colonies.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53This might be the key to financial recovery, but there was a price.
0:53:54 > 0:54:00And for the Scots, the price was sovereignty. The price was Union.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08This grand building had been designed for Charles I's
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Scottish parliaments.
0:54:10 > 0:54:1468 years later his grand-daughter, Queen Anne, made it redundant.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Because the majority in the Scottish Parliament say yes,
0:54:17 > 0:54:19and approved the treaty.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22Farewell to independence and hello to Union.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33Outside the Scottish Parliament, and for many politicians inside,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35the decision was hugely unpopular.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Efforts were made to sugar the pill.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47The Scots got to keep their separate legal and educational systems.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51They got to keep their Church.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56The stiff-necked inheritors of John Knox didn't have to bow
0:54:56 > 0:54:58the knees to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06But the two kingdoms were united, Great Britain had been created.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Queen Anne had achieved what her great-grandfather, King James VI
0:55:09 > 0:55:12of Scotland and I of England, had always dreamed of.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17She had united Scotland and England into one state.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21An uneasy, unequal and mercenary match,
0:55:21 > 0:55:24but a marriage never the less.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28I think this was a little like the dynastic
0:55:28 > 0:55:31marriages of the 17th century royals.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34It was driven by strategy, not love.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Negotiating a satisfactory deal between England
0:55:45 > 0:55:47and Scotland hadn't been easy.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51And here you can see here all the detailed provisions that
0:55:51 > 0:55:54went into the 1707 Act of Union.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02This document lays the foundations for modern Britain.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06But it was only the latest in a series of experiments of different
0:56:06 > 0:56:11ways of ruling these islands attempted during the Stuart century.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15These had ranged, from James VI and I's warm and fuzzy rhetoric
0:56:15 > 0:56:20of a union of "hearts and minds", to the forced union under Cromwell,
0:56:20 > 0:56:24and now, this pragmatic negotiated agreement under Queen Anne.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36Exactly 300 years after Queen Anne's death the 2014 Scottish
0:56:36 > 0:56:40Referendum will decide if the settlement she made will last or
0:56:40 > 0:56:45if Scotland will, once again, become an independent country, sharing
0:56:45 > 0:56:49a monarch with England just as it had throughout the Stuart century.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58Queen Anne died, childless, in August 1714.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00The Stuart era was over.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02They'd ruled Scotland for hundreds of years
0:57:02 > 0:57:06but Britain for only one dramatic century.
0:57:06 > 0:57:07How should we judge them?
0:57:07 > 0:57:12It's tempting to reach for old cliches like failed, doomed,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16tragic, even wrong but romantic, but it's more complex than that.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24Theirs was a century in which a father gained three kingdoms,
0:57:24 > 0:57:27but his son lost his crowns and then his head.
0:57:28 > 0:57:33In which his son was triumphantly restored to all three thrones
0:57:33 > 0:57:37but the brother who succeeded him was deposed by his own daughter.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43In which a Dutch king traded absolute power for military
0:57:43 > 0:57:48might, and his successor brought her kingdoms union,
0:57:48 > 0:57:50but failed to give them an heir.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55But don't underestimate the Stuarts.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59In 1603 they inherited a multiple monarchy that was religiously
0:57:59 > 0:58:03divided, woefully underfunded, and structurally dysfunctional.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09The century of their rule was extraordinary. For the first time,
0:58:09 > 0:58:14the Stuarts pushed the idea of a single united kingdom.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18An idea, that for good or ill, ultimately ended
0:58:18 > 0:58:23in Anglo-Scottish union, and the political creation of Great Britain.