JAMES II HALFPENNY NO COPPER ISSUED

Name: King James II
Full Name: James Stuart
Born: October 14, 1633 at St. James Palace
Parents: Charles I and Henrietta Maria
Relation to Elizabeth II: 1st cousin 9 times removed
House of: Stuart
Ascended to the throne: February 6, 1685 aged 51 years
Crowned: April 23, 1685 at Westminster Abbey
Married: (1) Anne Hyde, (2) Mary, Daughter of Duke of Modena
Children: Eight by his first wife Anne, of whom only Mary and Anne survived, and Five by his 2nd wife Mary of whom only a son James (Old Pretender) and Louise Maria survived.
Died: September 6, 1701 at St Germain-en-Laye, France, aged 67 years, 10 months, and 21 days
Buried at: Chateau de Saint Germain-en-Laye, Near Paris,
Reigned for: 3 years, 10 months, and 3 days, Abdicated: December 11, 1688
Succeeded by: his daughter Mary and son-in-law William of Orange

James II was the second surviving son of Charles I and younger brother of Charles II. He was created Duke of York, and was in Oxford during the Civil War. After the defeat of the Royalists he escaped with his mother and brother to The Hague and then exile in France. His father was executed in 1649. William of Orange landed at Torbay on 5 November 1688 in 463 ships unopposed by the Royal Navy, and with an army of 14,000 troops which gathering local support grew to over 20,000 and advanced on London in what became known as ‘The Glorious Revolution’. Many from James’s army including Churchill and James’s daughter Anne defected to support William. James lost his nerve and fled to France throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames. His daughter Mary was declared Queen, but she insisted on joint rule with her husband and they were crowned King William III and Queen Mary II. James and his wife and son lived in exile in France as guests of Louis XIV. James landed in Ireland in 1689 with French troops in an attempt to regain the throne and advanced on Londonderry, but was defeated by William at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. He lived the rest of his life in exile. His son James Edward Stuart (The Old Pretender) and grandson Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie) made unsuccessful attempts to restore the Jacobite throne in 1715 and 1745.

No Copper was issued under the short reign of James II