16 September 2019
King James VII of Scotland died on 16 September 1701.
King James VII of Scotland died in exile on 16 September 1701 at St Germain en Laye in France. James was the second son of King Charles I (the two are pictured here) and was the last Roman Catholic monarch to rule Scotland. He came to the throne in 1685 after the death of his brother King Charles II, but fled the country in the Great Revolution in 1688 and in doing so, was ruled to have abdicated in England. In Scotland, Parliament declared that he had forfeited the throne through his misrule, a vital distinction that gave the post-1689 Scottish state a unique character.
James lived out the rest of his days in exile in France under the protection of King Louis XIV of France and died at the age of 67.