In December 1688, a pamphlet known as the “Third Declaration” of William of Orange appeared in London, claiming a Catholic conspiracy to seize the capital and murder Protestants. Although widely believed at the time, the document was not authored by William himself but is generally attributed to Hugh Speke, an anti-Catholic agitator. The pamphlet fueled widespread panic and anti-Catholic riots in London and other towns, illustrating the volatile political climate surrounding William’s invasion of England a month earlier.
The invasion, marking what is commonly referred to as the Glorious Revolution, resulted in the peaceful overthrow of the Catholic King James II by William of Orange, who became joint monarch with his Protestant wife, Mary, James’s daughter. While the period is often portrayed as a divinely sanctioned event that secured parliamentary sovereignty, constitutional monarchy, and the foundations of the British Empire, recent scholarship challenges the inevitability of William’s success.
Historian Arthur der Weduwen, in his new book *The Last Invasion of England*, emphasizes the centrality of Dutch political and military factors in the events. He argues that William’s principal motivation was to secure a permanent alliance between Britain and the Dutch Republic against France. Moreover, William was genuinely concerned that James’s religious policies could plunge England into civil strife or turn it into a French client state.
Der Weduwen’s research, drawing on Dutch sources seldom used before, highlights that William had been planning the invasion since mid-1687 with significant financial backing from the Dutch Republic’s business and political elites, especially in Amsterdam. The military expedition was the largest fleet to cross the North Sea at that time, consisting of 48 warships, over 240 transport vessels, and more than 16,000 soldiers. The invasion narrowly succeeded after an earlier attempt was thwarted by storms, and its timing was aided by favorable winds that also prevented the English navy from engaging the fleet.
After William’s landing at Brixham in Devon in November 1688, James II’s support eroded rapidly due to defections from military officers, politicians, and even his daughter, the future Queen Anne. James’s attempt to flee was foiled near the Isle of Sheppey, and although William allowed him to escape to France in early 1689, the king’s departure effectively ended his reign.
Der Weduwen underscores that William could not simply claim the throne by force. His propaganda focused on rescuing Protestantism and English liberties, necessitating parliamentary approval to legitimize his rule. His experience with the Dutch Republic’s representative assemblies influenced his approach. Consequently, the Convention Parliament declared James to have abdicated and offered the crown jointly to William and Mary. This body also produced the Declaration of Rights, later enacted as the Bill of Rights of 1689, which has since been regarded as a foundation of British constitutional law.
While some historians question the term “Glorious Revolution” and the English-centric narrative, many concur that William’s intervention was pivotal in establishing a political order that has endured. Der Weduwen concludes that the Dutch military support and William’s management of the crisis were instrumental in reinforcing Britain’s long-term political stability.