Parliament originally only wanted to offer the crown to Mary, with William as Prince Consort, but the couple were reluctant to accept without co-regency. Parliament relented and so, on 13 February 1689, the couple were declared King and Queen after agreeing to the Declaration of Right. Their coronation took place on 11 April.
The Declaration of Rights was subsequently written into the English Bill of Rights, which was formally passed by Parliament on 16 December to join documents such as Magna Carta and the Petition of Right as a central part of the uncodified British constitution. The Bill of Rights placed limits on the monarch’s power and confirmed Parliament’s own rights, ensuring that it was free to function without royal interference. Furthermore, it banned Catholics from the throne.
The Glorious Revolution was consequently not seen as such by everyone. The Bill of Rights was both politically and religiously divisive, laying the foundations for generations of conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Beginning with the Williamite–Jacobite War that confirmed British rule in Ireland, the Protestant Ascendancy established political, economic and social domination of the country for over two centuries.
The Declaration of Right, or Declaration of Rights, is a document produced by the English Parliament, following the 1688 Glorious Revolution. It sets out the wrongs committed by the exiled James II, the rights of English citizens, and the obligation of their monarch.
On 13 February 1689, it was read out to James' daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, when they were jointly offered the throne, although not made a condition of acceptance.
The Declaration itself was a tactical compromise between Whig and Tories; it established grievances, without agreeing their cause, or solution.
