Throughout history there have been many Kings and Queens who suffered a very painful death.
Henry VIII is his final moments was a shadow of his former self, and Elizabeth I would
become very down and depressed as her death approached.
But one Kings death which was very painful was William III, or William of Orange who
came to the throne as the King of England following the ousting of James II.
His ascension to the throne became known as the Glorious Revolution, and shortly after
William arrived on English soil with his wife Mary II then the King stepped down in favour
of the Prince of Orange.
William was a staunch Protestant, and the fact James II was a Catholic gave him a huge
amount of support in England and Britain but in 1702 William died, and it was then his
sister in law and cousin Anne who became the Queen regnant of England Scotland and Ireland.
He was the only member of the Dutch House of Orange to reign over England, but what
is the story of his death?
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The Glorious revolution also known as the Bloodless Revolution resulted in the deposition
of King James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband William III
the Prince of Orange to become the King and Queen of Britain.
James II’s overt catholicism caused chaos across the country and alienated much of his
population, and he also changed the rules regarding religion across the country.
William of Orange was James nephew and also his son in law, and William was worried at
the time about what James was doing to England.
There was also concern in England at the time about the power of France in Europe, and England
were not doing anything to challenge this.
But then a great European coalition had began to form to stop any aggression, and it depended
upon England.
But William had been in touch with leading English politicians for around a year before
and he was being approached to invade England and to oust James II.
A group known as the ‘immortal seven’ sent William an invitation and the intention
was there for James to then come to England.
He landed at Brixham on the south west of England on the 5th November 1688 and his fleet
was larger than the Spanish Armada.
Support for James dissolved when William arrived with many officers defecting from the English
Army, and James tried to resist the invasion but this was futile and then negotiations
were underway.
Slowly William advanced to London, and James II fled to France with William III being crowned
along with his wife Mary II.
The revolution had occurred almost without any bloodshed, but there was resistance in
Scotland and Ireland.
The Jacobites for decades would try to restore James to the throne and also his heirs after
his death, and he oversaw a number of different military campaigns.
But on the 28th December 1694, Mary II died from smallpox, and this left William to rule
alone in the country, with the King greatly mourning his wife.
When he was the sole monarch, his popularity did wane and plummet across England.
However he would rule for around 8 years until William himself got ill and died.
It has been attributed for many centuries that the King died from complications emerging
from a fall from a horse.
But this has been debated.
William III it’s believed suffered with issues regarding his lungs for some time that
may have attributed to his death along with his fall,.
On the early morning of the 21st February 1702 whilst riding inside the gardens of Hampton
Court Palace, the King fell from his horse after it stumbled upon a molehill and the
King was then thrown violently off the horse.
He landed hitting the ground and instantly shattered his collarbone.
The fall was so bad that it could have killed him or broken his neck, but he then went straight
to royal doctors where his collarbone was then set instantly by them.
However after his collarbone had been set, William then demanded that he should be taken
to Kensington Palace which was 12 miles away.
He was taken by carriage ride which was very rough and would have caused further damage.
This must have been painful for William III and the bone had to be then reset after he
arrived at Kensington.
But following this he then went into the Kings gallery, and he sat down and fell asleep by
an open window watching what was going on.
It was a cold February afternoon, and William then woke up feverish and feeling rather ill,
having sat in the draft for some hours in a lot of pain.
Chances are that the adrenaline from his injury was wearing off, and over the next few days
he continued to get much worse.
William III continued to have meetings with his advisors and government, and his favourite
remained by his side when he took a turn for the worst in March.
At this point, the King then asked for his old friend Hans Bentinck who he had fallen
out with, and then this man arrived before the King had his last moments.
The King’s last words were, ‘I draw towards my end.’
But at around 8 or 9 in the morning on the 8th March 1702, William III died.
He was 51 when he died, but following his death the King’s body was subjected to a
post mortem which took place two days after he died.
In attendance were the King’s favourite doctor and four surgeons, and the post mortem
report said a significant amount of issues happened inside his body.
It was said, ‘The Thorax or Chest we observed that the Right side of the Lungs adher’d
to the Pleura; and the Left, much more.
From which upon separation, there issued forth a quantity of purulent or frothy serum.
The upper lobe on the Left side of the Lungs and the part of the Pleura next to it were
inflamed to a degree of mortification.
And this we look upon as the Immediate Cause of the King’s death.
From the ventricles of the heart and the greater blood vessels arising out of them were taken
several large tough flesh-like substances of the kind call’d Polypus.
The Heart itself was of the smaller size: but firm and strong.’
It was then concluded that the King died from pneumonia, and that his lungs were in a very
bad way.
He had suffered throughout his life with chronic asthma and William despite falling off the
horse was terribly ill at the time.
It was said of his collarbone injury that, ‘Upon laying bare the Right collarbone,
we found it had been broken near the shoulder; and well set.
Some extravasated blood was lodged above and below the fracture.’
So the bone had been set and it was said that it was then healing, but it was from pneumonia
that the king succumbed to, and not necessarily the riding accident that he had.
It was certainly not ideal for the King, but would not have been the explicit cause of
death.
Following his death, the Jacobites toasted to the mole saying he was ‘the gentleman
in the black velvet waistcoat who led William towards his death.
But in the years following his wife’s death, the King had ruled alone and he had been the
target of a number of unsuccessful assassination attempts.
He knew he was despised as he was a foreign ruler, being a dutchman sitting on the English
throne.
He felt more secure with other dutchmen around him but this made him even more un popular.
He was also accused of much gossip regarding his love life, and there were a number of
rumours spread around court about him.
But to those outside his circle of friends, he was considered cold and rude, but he was
a man who took the death of his queen incredibly hard and William’s death had little impact
across the country.
He was buried without any ceremony in the middle of the night in Westminster rAbbey,
but then Queen Anne came onto the throne.
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