After English King James II converted to Catholicism, he was deposed during the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and fled England. Parliament transferred the crowns to his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William, while the Bill of Rights 1689 and Act of Settlement 1701 excluded James's descendants and Catholics from succession. Today there is an art historian in Germany named Franz who would have been King of England (instead of King Charles III) if James had stayed in the Church of England. Franz has never claimed the British throne and calls his supposed inheritance a "charming historical curiosity."
Previous Fact Next Fact