The later stuarts

The later Stuarts were the last of a group of English monarchs, from the Stuart family, who took to the throne after the death of Oliver Cromwell.
These last monarchs ruled between the years of 1660 to 1714. And consisted of Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II and Queen Anne.
Charles II
On the 29 May 1630 Charles was born at St James Palace in London. He was the biological son of previous monarch Charles I. On the 30 January 1649 Charles' father was executed at Whitehall, after losing the English civil war. After this, Charles fled to mainland France. He lived in France for nine years, while Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector.
When Cromwell died 1658 of malaria, Charles II was invited back into England by parliament to be the new King. He was very popular amongst the people of England and he wished not to rule like his father. He was nicknamed the 'Merry monarch'as he brought back many recreational activities like partying, going to the pub and even Christmas, that were banned by cromwell.Charles II died from a stroke on February 6th, 1685.
James II
James II.
James was born on October 14th 1633. In 1685 James II suceeded his brother and became the King of England. James was a catholic and the people were sure that he would cause trouble and he did...
He defied parliament, and refused to work with them; he gave important jobs to all of his roman catholic friends, who were part of the goverment or the army, and he raised taxes illegally.
The govement and the people of England told him to leave, so he left the the throne immidiately to avoid being executed.
This time was called the Glorious revolution. The first time England had got rid of one of it's monarchs, without war or execution.
William of Orange and mary II
William and mary were invited to the throne in 1689 by the English goverment. Parliament had devised a Bill of rights ( a set of rules) that the new monarchs had to agree too.
The bill of rights stated that:
- parliament must decide taxes,
- Monarchs were not allowed to change laws without parliaments permition,
- Monarchs were not to raise an army,
- All monachs must be protestant
Also,in 1702, during will and marys reign a trenial act was signed- meaning that parliament leaders had to be re-elected every 3 years.
William and mary had no children, so the crown was passed over to Mary's sister Anne
Anne II
On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union 1707, England and Scotland were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne became its first sovereign, while continuing to hold the separate crown of Queen of Ireland and the title of Queen of France. Therefore she was, technically, the last Queen of England and the last Queen of Scots. Anne reigned for twelve years until her death in August 1714.
Anne fell pregnant 18 times but all of them died berofe the age of 10. There were no more Stuart heirs, so this symbolised the end of the Stuart era and the start of a new era - the Georgians
historical impact
The Bill of rights still exists today and the current queen still has to follow these rules. The last stuart monarch showed how the monarchs power over the country got smaller and how the goverment got it's power, to how it is now. The countries England and scotland became one united nation, called the united kingdom.
refrences
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/charles_ii_king.shtml about king charles
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/james_ii_stuart.htm about king James
http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/stuart_6.htm about will an mary
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp about the bill of rights

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