Mary II (1662-1694) was queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 to 1694. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed her father and made Mary and her husband, William III, the only joint rulers in English history.

Of a gentle and retiring nature, Mary always deferred to her husband's wishes in politics. Her independent reputation rests on her solicitude for the Anglican Church and her charitable and educational works. She encouraged Latitudinarian appointments among the bishops--Henry Compton, John Tillotson, and Gilbert Burnet being among the liberal theologians she favored. Among her missionary acts, she supported the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, endowed the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and founded Greenwich Hospital for disabled seamen.

Their Catholic father, James II, reluctantly allowed Mary and Anne to be reared as Anglicans for "fear of their being taken away from him altogether." At 15 Mary was betrothed to William of...