Lady Isabella

James II's daughter, Isabella (1676-1681) died a few months before her fifth birthday. She was up until that point the longest lived of Mary of Modena's children. And her death reportedly affected Mary very deeply.

What might the effects have been with a surviving Lady Isabella Stuart? If Isabella had lived, would Charles II have insisted that she be brought up Anglican or allowed her parents a say in the matter? Would she marry Protestant or Catholic (maybe the future Regent of France)? And should the Glorious Revolution still occur, does she go to France in exile with mom and dad, or does she remain in England, at William and Mary's pleasure?
 
Well, from what I know, Isabella was seemingly the only child of Mary of Modena who died in infancy, who's cause of death is listed as anything other than convulsions.

So, if she does survive whatever caused her death (and the list can be rather long) and manages to struggle through infancy, she could have an interesting future in store. There's no proof that the Old Pretender will be born, (personally IMHO the English were the fools in believing the warming-pan story because they didn't want a Catholic king (that's the power of the group mind for you), when at the time of the Old Pretender's birth Mary of Modena was barely thirty, and had carried a child to term last in 1684 (the child was stillborn)) and born alive.

But I also think that Charles II would insist on her being brought up church of England, so she'll be 9 when Charles (if he dies on schedule) has an unconscienable time a-dying, and will become Princess Royal on her father's accession. If she has anything of the Stuart women's looks - Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary, Princess Royal, Minette, Mary II and La Consolatrice were all reportedly very beautiful - and even half their brains, I think she'll be a prize catch for any prince in Europe.
 
Charles, Duke of Cambridge (Mary of Modena's son) died of smallpox/measles rather than convulsions in 1677 when he was about a month old.

But it would be interesting times if the Old Pretender is miscarried/stillborn and Mary and Anne's obstetric history follows the same course and Isabella succeeds as Queen Elizabeth II/Isabella I.
 
Charles, Duke of Cambridge (Mary of Modena's son) died of smallpox/measles rather than convulsions in 1677 when he was about a month old.

But it would be interesting times if the Old Pretender is miscarried/stillborn and Mary and Anne's obstetric history follows the same course and Isabella succeeds as Queen Elizabeth II/Isabella I.

Yeah doubt it about James III. Remember Mary Beatrice had another child after James Francis, Louisa-Maria, in 1692. So there's still another chance for a boy. Isabella could end being a sort of bridge between the Jacobites and England. She'll no doubt move to France with her parents, but she'll be 12/13, with at least some opinions religiously. Assuming she remains Protestant, there's no way to exclude her from the throne, making her the heiress after her sisters. However, this creates a conundrum. Would Isabella betray her full brother to become Queen or would she stay loyal, more or less forcing Parliament to either exclude her as well, or negotiate with James III? Either way its an interesting scenario.
 
Yeah doubt it about James III. Remember Mary Beatrice had another child after James Francis, Louisa-Maria, in 1692. So there's still another chance for a boy. Isabella could end being a sort of bridge between the Jacobites and England. She'll no doubt move to France with her parents, but she'll be 12/13, with at least some opinions religiously. Assuming she remains Protestant, there's no way to exclude her from the throne, making her the heiress after her sisters. However, this creates a conundrum. Would Isabella betray her full brother to become Queen or would she stay loyal, more or less forcing Parliament to either exclude her as well, or negotiate with James III? Either way its an interesting scenario.

I think that it was James III's maleness (if that's the right word) that set the English off. I think if James III hadn't existed (for any reason) that the English would've perhaps tolerated a Catholic queen (so long as she's not too extreme (as in Bloody Mary's case)) as long as she was either married to a good Protestant husband, or promised that she would raise good CoE babies.
 
Lady Isabella would almost certainly be raised a Catholic. Remember while James II's daughters with Anne Hyde were raise in the C of E James II was publically still a member of the C of E then, even if he was a secret Catholic. He "came out" of the Catholic closet in 1676. So by the time she is of age to have a religious tutor appointed age 5 or 6 James II has been openly Catholic for a while and the Exclusion Crisis has already been resolved in his favour. Meaning he would probably get his way especially as Charles II was probably also a secret Catholic by this point though he didn't formally convert till his deathbed.

Either way it won't be a massive political issue. As a girl the soundly Protestant Mary and Anne are before Isabella in the succession and both have survived childhood, been married to Protestants and look likely to bear Protestant heirs pushing Isabella further down the line of succession.
 
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