This lady, a member of the English gentry, fell in love with James, Duke of York,
while they both lived in exile in the Netherlands.
Despite some disapproval, they married, and she gave birth
to their first child just two months later.
Their love was intense but not without its difficulties.
James was known to have many mistresses, and his wife often blamed him for it.
They suffered the loss of six children in early childhood,
leaving only two who would grow up to become monarchs.
Yet her devotion to her husband was unwavering,
and her influence led James to convert to Catholicism.
This decision would ultimately lead to the Glorious Revolution.
She herself had converted to Catholicism after being exposed to the religion
during her travels to the Netherlands and France.
Regrettably, this lady’s life was brought to a premature end
by her prolonged struggle with advanced breast cancer.
Though her time as Duchess of York and Albany was brief,
she left a lasting impact on history as the mother of two monarchs
and a key figure in the religious tensions of her time.
So join me now as we look back on the extraordinary life of Anne Hyde.
Edward Hyde’s first wife, Anne Ayliffe of Grittenham,
tragically died from smallpox six months after their marriage.
After three years, Hyde married Frances Aylesbury, and they named their eldest
daughter Anne in honour of Edward’s first wife.
As for Anne Hyde’s life before 1649, when her family fled to the Netherlands
after the execution of King Charles I, it remains largely unknown.
During the First English Civil War,
Anne’s father played a significant role as an advisor to Charles I.
In 1646, he fled into exile with his son,
the future Charles II, settling in the Dutch city of Breda.
There, they found sanctuary in the court of Mary of Orange, which provided refuge
for many English exiles during the period of political turmoil.
Mary appointed Anne a maid of honour,
much to the displeasure of her mother, Henrietta Maria, who despised Hyde.
But Anne quickly became a favourite among the people she met at The Hague
or the Princess of Orange’s country house at Teylingen.
She was a woman of remarkable beauty and style, attracting many men,
including Spencer Compton, the son of the Earl of Northampton.
However, Anne soon fell in love with Henry Jermyn, who returned her feelings.
But her affections changed when she met James, Duke of York,
the deposed king’s son.
Despite facing strong objections from various individuals,
including her father, who even went as far as to confine her to a room
and urge Charles to execute her, James promised to marry Anne
on 24 November 1659,
two or three years after their initial encounter.
In 1660, Anne Hyde, daughter of Edward Hyde
and maid of honour to Mary of Orange, became visibly pregnant.
Under societal pressure,
she and her partner, James, Duke of York, were forced to marry.
The couple held a private ceremony at her father’s
Worcester House in the Strand and were married by James’s chaplain.
Anne’s father, now the Earl of Clarendon, was against the match,
but Charles II approved of it, believing Anne’s strong
character would positively influence his weak-willed brother.
Anne and James were devastated by the loss of their first child, Charles, born
in October 1660 and tragically passed away only seven months later.
Despite this loss, Anne and James had seven more children,
although all of their sons and two of their daughters died in infancy.
Despite their growing family, not everyone approved of the marriage.
Samuel Pepys, for example, believed that the union had “undone the kingdom”
by making Anne’s father, who became the powerful
Chancellor of England, too influential.
Despite this prejudice against her family’s status,
Anne was highly regarded for her courage, cleverness, and energy.
The French ambassador even described her as almost worthy of “a King’s blood.”
While some critics may have viewed Anne as proud and expensive,
others saw her as a loving mother and supportive partner to James.
Even though they faced hardships, such as losing their firstborn child,
Anne and James remained devoted to each other and their family.
Anne, was not a popular figure
at court, despite being well-liked by her brother-in-law.
Her husband, known as “the most unguarded ogler of his time,” had numerous
mistresses throughout their marriage, including Arabella Churchill,
who bore him an illegitimate son, the Duke of Berwick.
Berwick went on to have a successful career in the French army,
while James used his influence to secure positions
for Arabella’s brother, John Churchill.
Although Anne was not blind to her husband’s infidelities
and was known to be jealous.
That said, the couple also publicly displayed
affection often kissing and leaning on each other.
Anne’s marriage to James was
challenging, more so when he fell in love with Lady Chesterfield.
Anne was so unhappy about the situation
that she repeatedly complained to her brother in law, Charles.
Over time her insistence eventually led to Lady Chesterfield’s
retreat to the countryside, effectively ending the affair.
It has been said
that Anne significantly influenced James’s conversion to Catholicism.
Anne was raised in the Anglican high church tradition,
which shared many practices and forms with the Catholic faith.
However, in 1669, Anne ceased attending Anglican services.
James converted around the same time but delayed announcing his conversion
until 1673 at Charles’s request.
Despite later converting to Catholicism on his deathbed,
Charles insisted that his brother’s children be raised as Protestants.
So both Mary and Anne became members of the Church of England.
Anne faced a prolonged illness that lasted
for over a year following the birth of her youngest child, Edgar.
Despite giving birth to two more children, Henrietta and Catherine, Anne
never fully recovered from Catherine’s birth.
Her condition was later identified as breast cancer,
eventually leading to her death on 31 March 1671.
During her final moments, Anne’s brothers attempted
to bring an Anglican priest to administer communion, but she refused
and received the viaticum of the Catholic Church instead.
After Anne’s death, her embalmed body was placed in the Mary, Queen
of Scots’ vault at Westminster Abbey’s Henry VII Chapel.
But Anne’s death was followed by further tragedy for the Duke of York,
as her only surviving son, Edgar, died of natural causes just a few months later.
Her daughter Catherine passed away before the end of the year,
leaving Mary and Anne as the Duke’s heirs.
As a tribute to
Anne Hyde, Mary II, commissioned a portrait of her that was displayed
above the door of the Queen’s Drawing Room at the Garden House in Windsor Castle.
Two years after Anne’s
death, James married a Catholic princess, Mary of Modena, who bore him
his only surviving son, James Francis Edward.
Despite becoming king of England, Ireland and Scotland in 1685, James
II was deposed during the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Following this the Parliament of England
offered the throne to Mary, Anne Hyde’s eldest daughter, and her husband,
William III of Orange.
Following the passing of Mary and William, Anne Hyde’s only surviving child,
also named Anne, ascended to the throne as the queen of the three kingdoms.
In 1707, she became the first sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
And so Anne Hyde’s legacy lives on through her descendants and her impact
on the monarchy during a tumultuous period of English history.
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