Facts

James II

(James VII of Scotland) 
Born in 1633 
Ascended in 1685 
Deposed in 1688
Died in 1701, aged 68 
Reigned for 3 years 
Married to Anne Hyde bearing 4 sons and 2 daughters. Then to Mary of Modena bearing 2 sons and 5 daughters.
 
James II was very unpopular with parliament and the Protestant people of England since he was a devout Catholic. He was also the last King of England to believe that he had the divine right to be there. He believed he was above the law and he demanded to be obeyed although his Catholic ideas were illegal under the Protestant law.

The Duke of Monmouth led an uprising promising to restore the Protestant church. This was put down and, with his chief commissioner, Lord Jeffrey's, the king ordered that Monmouth and his supporters be put to death. Many other Protestants were put to death in the next few years in what came to be known as the Bloody Assizes.
 
The Protestant church leaders, together with many English noblemen, eventually decided in secret to depose the King. They called to William of Orange, the Prince of Denmark, to come and claim the throne saying that the people of England would flock to him. William was not only a good statesman but was married to Mary, James II's eldest daughter, and therefore a potential heir to the throne. William's arrival in 1688 was known as the Glorious Revolution, and it lasted for only six weeks before James was betrayed by his army. He was forced to flee to France in disguise.