Anne Hyde
Duchess of York Duchess of Albany
Spouse	James, Duke of York
among others Issue
Charles, Duke of Cambridge Mary II of England James Stuart, Duke of Cambridge Anne, Queen of Great Britain Charles Stuart, Duke of Kendal Edgar Stuart, Duke of Cambridge
House	House of Stuart
Father	Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Mother	Frances Aylesbury
Born	(1638-03-22)22 March 1638 Windsor, England
Died	10 April 1671(1671-04-10) (aged 33) London, England
Burial	Westminster Abbey

Anne Hyde (22 March [O.S. 12 March] 1638 – 10 April [O.S. 31 March] 1671) was the first wife of James, Duke of York (the future King James II of England and VII of Scotland), and the mother of two monarchs, Mary II of England and Scotland and Anne of Great Britain.^[1]

Prior to her marriage she served as a maid of honour to Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange.

Early years[link]

She was born on 12 March 1638 (Old Style) or 22 March 1638 (New Style),^[2] at Cranbourne Lodge, Windsor in Berkshire, to Frances Aylesbury, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, and to Sir Edward Hyde (later 1st Earl of Clarendon) of the Hyde family from Norbury in Cheshire.

In 1659, at Breda in the Netherlands, she allegedly married James, then Duke of York, in a secret ceremony. The royal family at this time remained in exile following the English Civil War, and Anne's father served as the loyal Royalist chief adviser to the prospective King Charles II of England, James's elder brother. Anne was maid of honour to Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, sister of Charles and James. It was during this time that James seduced Anne while she was in his sister's service and Charles forced the reluctant James to marry Anne, saying that her strong character would be a positive influence on his weak-willed brother.^[3]

Duchess of York[link]

The couple went through an official but private marriage ceremony on 3 September 1660, in London, following the Restoration of the monarchy. The wedding took place between eleven o'clock at night and two o'clock in the morning at Worcester House, her father's house in the Strand, and was solemnised by James's chaplain, Dr Joseph Crowther. Anne was not a beautiful woman; in fact, Samuel Pepys slights her as being downright plain; however the French Ambassador described her as having "courage, cleverness, and energy almost worthy of a King's blood".^[4]

Anne and James' first child, Charles, was born less than two months after their marriage, but died in infancy, as did five further sons and daughters. Only two daughters survived: Mary (born 30 April 1662 O.S.) and Anne (born 6 February 1665 O.S.). According to the Dictionary of National Biography, she gave birth to "her eighth child, a daughter, on 9 February 1671 (O.S.), but by now her fatal illness, probably breast cancer, was in an advanced stage".^[5] On 10 April 1671 (31 March O.S.), about seven weeks after the birth of their youngest child, Anne died, aged 33, at St. James's Palace and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 15 April 1671 (5 April O.S.).

Catholicism[link]

Anne Hyde, portrait after Sir Peter Lely, circa 1670

Anne Hyde's arms^[6]

Late in her life, the Duchess of York secretly converted to Catholicism, much to the horror of her staunchly Anglican family. After her death, sometime about 1672, her widower also converted to the Roman Catholic faith. At the order of James's elder brother King Charles, however, James's and Anne's daughters received a Protestant education.

King James was overthrown in a revolution against his Catholic rule in 1688, and Anne Hyde's daughter Mary and her son-in-law, William of Orange, jointly assumed the throne. After James, no British king or queen has affirmed belief in the Catholic faith.

After Anne Hyde, no other English woman would marry an heir presumptive or heir apparent to the British throne until the marriage of Lady Diana Spencer to Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981.

Issue[link]

Ancestry[link]

Media portrayals[link]

• In the 2003 mini-series, Charles II: The Power & The Passion, Anne Hyde is portrayed by Tabitha Wady.

Sources[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Hyde, Anne (DNB00)

External links[link]

• Anne Hyde, Duchess of York at the National Portrait Gallery, London