King William III | Document signed, announcing the death of Mary II, 30 December 1694

King William III.

Letter signed, with autograph subscription (“M^atis V^rae Bonus Frater Gulielmus R”), to John III Sobieski King of Poland and Archduke of Lithuania

announcing the death of his wife, Queen Mary II, countersigned by the Duke of Shrewsbury as Secretary of State, in Latin, 2 pages, folio, Kensington Palace, 30 December 1694, integral address leaf, traces of seal, wear at folds, staining to final verso

William and Mary had taken the throne from Mary’s father James II in the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688. Mary’s death from smallpox two days at the age of 32, just two days before the date of this letter, was an important moment in the history of the monarchy. It left the throne in the hands of a foreign prince whose central interest was his ongoing war with France in the Low Countries: William was willing to surrender far more internal power to Parliament than any of his Stuart predecessors had been, so long as his wars were supported, and had little personal engagement with emergent British party politics.

This letter was written to John III, ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the diverse and decentralised polity which included much of present-day Ukraine. 

Provenance:

Swann Galleries, 22 October 1987, lot 287