

The Gazette contained no report of any accession council being held to confirm their royal styles and titles.Īs regards changes to the content of The Gazette, the Prince of Orange brought no new honours or other forms of royal favour from Holland that he could use in England and report in The Gazette, and meanwhile the Garter and the other English honours were allowed to function as before. William and Mary accepted the convention’s offer of the crowns at the Banqueting House on 13 February 1689, and their accession was proclaimed in London by the officers of arms in the customary manner ( Gazette issue 2427). The Guildhall assembly said they would preserve the peace of “these great and populous cities of London and Westminster, and the parts adjacent, by taking care to disarm all Papists, and secure all Jesuits and Romish priests who are in or about the same” ( Gazette issue 2409).Ī convention of public figures met at Westminster in late January 1689 and determined that the Prince and Princess of Orange were now the king and queen of England, France and Ireland “with all the dominions and territories thereunto belonging”.
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The process of stabilising the English administration began on 11 December 1688 when the peers and bishops who were “in and about the cities of London and Westminster” assembled at Guildhall and declared that they were “heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant religion, the laws of the land, and the liberties and properties of the subject” and resolved to assist the Prince of Orange in obtaining a free parliament.

The Gazette recorded the developments in the three kingdoms that led to the assumption of the crowns by the Prince and Princess of Orange, who were James’s son-in-law and daughter, as well as the scheme under which the royal authority was shared for the first time since the House of Stewart gained the crowns of England and Ireland in 1603. Instead, the events of 1688-89 provide one of only two examples of The Gazette reporting a transfer of the royal authority that was not caused by the death of the previous monarch (the second being the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 ( Gazette issue 34349)). The succession process could not be completed using the method that had worked in 1685 when the imperial crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland had passed to the Duke of York on his brother’s death. The fate of the Crown, rather than the business of any accession council, became the main issue that was of interest to the nation after King James left for France at the end of 1688. As part of our ‘ Succession to the Crown ’ series, historian Russell Malloch looks through the archives at the accession and reign of King William III and Queen Mary II, as described in The Gazette. Succession to the Crown: King William III and Queen Mary II Succession to the Crown: King William III and Queen Mary II Created date Publication date Īs part of our ‘Succession to the Crown’ series, historian Russell Malloch looks through the archives at the accession and reign of King William III and Queen Mary II, as described in The Gazette.Īs the official public record since 1665, The Gazette has been recording successions to the Crown for over three centuries.
