According to the terms of the Act of Settlement (S497) the crown now passed to George, Elector of Hanover, a Protestant descendant of James I of England. (See Table, p. 323.) James Edward, son of James II, believed to the last that his half-sister, Queen Anne, would name him her successor;[1] instead of that it was she who first dubbed him the "Pretender" (S491).
[1] Anne and the so-called "Pretender" were children of James II by different mothers.
516. Summary.
The whole reign of Anne was taken up with the strife of political parties at home, and the War of the Spanish Succession abroad. The Whigs (S479) were always intriguing through the Duchess of Marlborough and other leaders to keep up the war and to keep out the so-called "Pretender"; the Tories (S479), on the other hand, were just as busy through Mrs. Masham and her coadjutors in endeavoring to establish peace, and with it the Divine Right of Kings (SS419, 429).
The extreme Tories hoped for the restoration of the Roman Catholic
Stuarts in the person of James Edward, the so-called "Pretender." The
War of the Spanish Succession resulted in the defeat of Louis XIV and
the confirmation of that Act of Settlement (S497) which secured the
English crown to a Protestant prince.
GENERAL REFERENCE SUMMARY OF THE STUART PERIOD
1603-1714 (Commonwealth, 1649-1660)
I. Government. II. Religion. III. Military Affairs. IV. Literature and
Learning. V. General Industry and Commerce. Vi. Mode of Life,
Manners, and Customs
I. Government
517. The Divine Right of Kings; the Civil War; the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688.