Anne Hyde, Duchess of York
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Lady Anne Hyde (22 March 1638) – 31 March 1671), daughter of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and his wife, Frances Aylesbury, became the first wife of James, Duke of York (the future King James II of England and VII of Scotland), and the mother of two queens, Mary II of England and Anne of Great Britain.
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[edit] Early Years
She was born, on (12 March 1637 Old Style) or (22 March 1638 New Style)[1], at Windsor, Berkshire, to Frances (daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Master of Requests) and to Sir Edward Hyde (later -- from 1661 -- 1st Earl of Clarendon) of the Hyde of Norbury family. In 1659, at Breda in the Netherlands, she allegedly married James, then Duke of York, in a secret ceremony. The royal family at this time remained in exile following the English Civil War, and Anne's father served as the loyal Royalist chief adviser to the prospective King Charles II of England, James's elder brother. Anne was Maid of Honour to Mary, Princess of Orange, sister of Charles and James. It was during this time that James seduced Anne while she was in his sister's service and Charles forced the reluctant James to marry Anne, saying that her strong character would be a positive influence on his weak-willed brother.[2]
[edit] Duchess of York
The couple went through an official marriage ceremony on 3 September 1660, in London, following the English Restoration of the monarchy. Anne was not a beautiful woman; in fact, Samuel Pepys slights her as being downright plain. But she was intelligent and witty. The French Ambassador described her as having "courage,cleverness, and energy almost worthy of a King's blood".[3] Anne and James' first child, Charles, was born less than two months after their marriage, but died in infancy, as did five further sons and daughters. Only two daughters survived: Mary (born 30 April 1662) and Anne (born 6 February 1665). A few weeks after the birth of their youngest child, Anne died of cancer at St. James's Palace and was buried in Westminster Abbey. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, she gave birth to "her eighth child, a daughter, on 9 February 1671, but by now her fatal illness, probably breast cancer, was in an advanced stage." [1]
[edit] Conversion To Catholicism
Late in her life, the Duchess of York secretly converted to Catholicism, much to the horror of her staunchly Anglican family. After her death her widower also converted to the Roman Catholic faith (circa 1672). At the order of James's older brother King Charles, however, James and Anne's daughters received a Protestant education.
King James suffered deposition in a revolution against his Catholic rule in 1688, and Anne Hyde's daughter Mary and her son-in-law, William of Orange, jointly assumed the throne. After James, no British King or Queen has affirmed belief in the Catholic faith.
After Anne Hyde, no other Englishwoman would marry an heir presumptive or heir apparent to the British throne until the marriage of Lady Diana Spencer to Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981.
[edit] Sources
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant
Title last held by
Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk |
Duchess of York 1660 – 1671 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Mary of Modena |
