Coronation of James II and VII and Mary

The coronation of James II and VII and his wife Mary as King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland was held on 23 April 1685 at Westminster Abbey. James and Mary were the last British monarchs to be Catholics, despite the Protestant Church of England being the established church. Accordingly, the service was reordered to omit the Anglican Communion Service, the only time that a British coronation has been conducted without one. The truncated text of the coronation liturgy which was prepared for the service provided the model for future coronations into the 20th century. James was also the first monarch since the Union of the Crowns not to have a coronation in Scotland, and the first English monarch since the 14th century not to plan a royal entry procession through London, these and other innovations set long-standing precedents for future British coronations.

Background

James's predecessor and elder brother, King Charles II, had come to the throne in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, which followed the English Civil Wars, the execution of Charles I and the five year republic known as The Protectorate. Charles II had a difficult relationship with the Parliament of England over religious policy. Charles supported the High Church wing of the Church of England which inclined towards Catholic traditions, while many in Parliament, calling themselves "the Country Party" (later known as Whigs), were Protestant-minded and strongly anti-Catholic. In 1673, Parliament passed the Test Act 1673, which required anyone holding public office to take an oath afirning their adherence to Protestantism. James, then Duke of York, refused to take the oath, which publicly revealed the fact that James had secretly converted to Catholicism.