News about James II

The decision comes just weeks after Sir Keir removed the portrait of Margaret Thatcher from her former study in neighbouring No 10 after reportedly finding the image of Britain's first female prime minister 'unsettling'. Ms Reeves told an all-female reception at No 11 this week: 'This is King James behind me, but next week the artwork in this room is going to change. 'Every picture in this room is either going to be of a woman or by a woman - and we're also going to have a statue in this room of (suffragist) Millicent Fawcett, who did so much for the rights of women.' King James II, who is posing in a suit of armour, is likely to be relegated to a storage room. Most other paintings around the large room currently feature men.

That bibulous rogue Sebastian Dangerfield, hero of JP Donleavy's novel The Ginger Man, declares: 'When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs of Dublin.' Why not? Given the politicised filth currently being thrown at prominent historical figures, there seems little purpose in leaving this mortal life in a more dignified or altruistic manner. What is the point, certainly, in leaving a fortune to good causes or in having a monument or building erected to your memory if future generations of political non-entities are going to disown you for their own tawdry purposes Yesterday brought the latest in a long list of such stunts. Welsh librarians were instructed to distance themselves from 'racist' buildings. Buildings can be racist? You learn something new every day.

Queen Mary of Modena, the Catholic wife of James II, gave birth to a son, James Francis Stewart. Or did she? Join Kate Williams and Robert Hardman as they dive into one of royal history's juiciest, and often forgotten, scandals: an event that should have been a joyous moment (a male heir - hurrah!) but one that instead unleashed a chain of events that would lead to mother, father, and child being driven out of England to spend the rest of their lives in… exile. Listen to the latest episode of Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things now, wherever you get your podcasts.

It was the royal arrival that should have been the most wonderful news for the whole country. On June 10, 1688, after 15 years of miscarriages, stillbirths and deaths in infancy, Queen Mary of Modena gave birth to a boy. In little James Stuart, the Catholic King James II finally had the male heir he had so desperately sought. But, as the third episode of new Mail podcast Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things reveals, the nation, and the King's own (protestant) daughters from his first marriage, were sceptical. Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and his co-host, historian Kate Williams, explore the scandalous 'warming pan' claim. Its proponents alleged that a baby was smuggled into Queen Mary's bedchamber so it could be passed off as the legitimate heir. The doubts over the King's son's legitimacy helped trigger the Glorious Revolution in 1688, when William of Orange (inset) invaded and became the new King.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, the grandson of James II of England, survived an assassination attempt at Bannockburn House, near Stirling, Scotland. Bonnie Prince Charlie led the Jacobite rising of 1745, the unsuccessful attempt to restore his father, James Stuart, to the British throne. By December 1745, his forces retreated back to Scotland and Bonnie Prince Charlie, having fallen ill, was taken to Bannockburn House to recover. Until now, the attempted shooting at the house was the stuff of legend, but researchers say the newly-found bullet hole (pictured) now offers evidence.

The United States has the longest cave system in the world, specifically the Mammoth caves in Kentucky. Mammoth Cave National Park encompasses more than 400 miles of surveyed passageways. This extensive network of limestone caves and tunnels is renowned for its complexity and vastness, and new sections continue to be discovered and mapped by speleologists.

As travellers and gypsies drive horses and carts through the streets ahead of the Appleby Horse Fair, police have made a number of arrests for stolen caravans (inset). The event, which starts tomorrow and ends on June 12, is an annual gathering of gypsies and travellers in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria.  But in the days leading up to the massive fair, police have made at least seven arrests in connection with stolen motor vehicles being brought into the county. Gypsy and Traveller representatives have supported the police action, condemning accusations that it is 'heavy-handed harassment and persecution'. They said: 'Anyone who knowingly brings stolen property to Appleby Fair deserves what they get. It is their own fault, and they will get no sympathy from us.'

Travellers and gypsies can be seen driving horses and carts through the streets as the organisers make final preparations ahead of the Appleby Horse Fair. Videos posted on TikTok show people riding in horse carts along rural roads and quaint village streets in the lead up to the show. It comes as locals are bracing themselves after last year's event was overshadowed by chaos. The event, which starts tomorrow and ends on June 12, is an annual gathering of gypsies and travellers in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria.

Appleby Horse Fair, which starts tomorrow and ends on June 12, is an annual gathering of gypsies and travellers in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria. The fair sees the town's main street used for showing horses set to be traded as the animals are tethered to railings outside pubs and shops - while visitors park their caravans on both sides of the A685. Last year's event caused fury among locals, who reported shoplifting, threats and even urine being squirted through car windows by members of the travelling community. Photos from today show gypsies and travellers arriving via horse and carriage in order to set up camp in time for the start of the festival tomorrow.

Videos posted to TikTok show travellers from far and wide riding their horses and towing their trailers to Appleby-in-Westmoreland, Cumbria, where they hold their annual horse fair. Locals in the neighbouring market town of Kirkby Stephen, who had grown used to the take over by the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community, have put their foot down after chaos last year saw claims of shoplifting, threats and urine being squirted through car windows. Roadside verges on both sides of the A685 into the town become ad hoc campsites, bursting with caravans, tethered horses, dogs and children.The town's main street is used for showing horses set to be traded and horses are tethered to railings outside the pubs, making it look like 'the Wild West'.

EXCLUSIVE: Unprecedented restrictions are awaiting travellers descending in their thousands on the historic Appleby horse fair as despairing locals fight back against the annual gathering. Disorder last year was 'the last straw' as far as the people of a neighbouring market town was concerned amid claims of shoplifting, threats and urine being squirted through car windows by members of the travelling community. The people of Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, have grown used to their town being taken over by the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community, who use it as a stopping off point before the fair begins.

Cumbrian farmer Mark Scott (left) said he taken his JCB Telehandler to a country lane and lifted boulders across the entrance to help the local parish council, which is fed up with attendees moving onto people's land. But this year things went frighteningly wrong when travellers arrived early and were already there when he began his task. In the confrontation he suffered a barrage of insults and veiled threats, but refused to back down.

This is the moment travellers staged a sit down protest during a row with a farmer who tried to make to make his land inaccessible to caravans in the run-up to the annual Appleby Horse Fair. Members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community have started arriving almost a month early for the event in the Cumbrian town which doesn't begin until June 6. The travellers reportedly prevented the farmer from blocking the entrance to his land at Belah, outside Appleby, with boulders using a JCB digger. His machine was surrounded by members of a travelling family - with one man standing directly behind the JCB to stop it reversing. Others - including one woman who said she would be turning 90 this week - took turns to berate the farmer.

The portrait titled Three Eldest Children of Charles I was on display beneath the staircase in Oxburgh Estate in Norfolk and viewed by thousands of visitors each year. Historians always believed it to be an oil painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck.

The Business Secretary and Equalities Minister said that UK's economic success is instead the result of 'British ingenuity and industry' as she welcomed a new book by a rightwing think tank. Despite the British Empire once being geographically the largest the world has ever seen, political economist Kristian Niemietz claimed Britain's growth was not financed by the slave trade or its imperial possessions. Writing for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr Niemietz has argued that colonialism made only a 'minor contribution' to Britain's economic development, 'and quite possibly none at all', with the benefits outweighed by the military and administrative cost of running an empire. He added that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was no more important to the British economy than sheep-farming or brewing, and most trade was with North America and Western Europe rather than the colonies, even if some individuals did become 'very rich' from 'overseas engagement'.

With 1980s fashion coming back into style, which is mostly a good thing, there are a few items that can stay put. Sweatbands, for instance: Olivia Newton-John briefly made them trendy with the suggestive video for her hit song Physical. Unfortunately, on mere mortals they look rubbish. Oh, and then there's the Spandex bodysuit. Likewise the shell suit, the brightly patterned polyester trouser and jacket combo, has mercifully gone.

Kemi Badenoch today slammed claims Britain is only wealthy because of 'colonialism and white privilege'. The Business Secretary insisted the establishment of Parliamentary democracy and the rule of law was at the heart of the country's success. She also hit out at calls for mandatory ethnicity quotas in the financial sector, jibing that her job often involved 'killing bad ideas'. The comments came as Ms Badenoch spoke at the CityUK international conference.

A new series by Channel 4, The Jury: Murder Trial, dramatises a lawsuit, with two juries independently requesting verdicts on the same subject. It's an absurdity. A real jury, in a world where jurors are not supposed to merrily discuss the trial as they do in the program, would be very dull television. The C4 version is, on the other hand, much like a jury. And, thank goodness, the suggestion that we are getting a good trial is incorrect. I used to cover trials in my 20s in the Swindon Magistrates and Crown Court, and here snippets of evidence in the TV show are very different from the real thing.

On his father's side, the actor, 59, revealed on X that he is related to 11th Lord Lovat, who became Britain's last man to be executed on Tower Hill in 1747. Fraser's murder inspired the expression 'laughing your head off' because a scaffold holding spectators collapsed moments before he was executed, causing the rebel to break out in fits of giggles. The Scot was executed after helping Bonnie Prince Charlie, the doomed Jacobite figurehead who was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746.

Since photographs of Prince Frederik enjoying a night out with a Mexican socialite in Madrid in October, the Danish royal family has been rocked by rumors of an affair in recent weeks. Princess Mary, 51, was seen this week as she bid farewell to friends at Queenstown Airport in New Zealand after a four-day journey, amid the media storm surrounding the scandal. The Tasmanian-born royal started her Christmas break in Australia on December 6 with her two youngest children, twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, but without her husband. Prince Frederik, 55, was reunited with his wife a few days after the couple were seen touching down in separate planes in Queenstown on Monday. Isabella, the heir to the Danish throne, arrived in the country's 16-year-old daughter. However, amid the scandalous 'affair' rumors after Frederik's ouster with 47-year-old socialite Genoveva Casanova, he remains just as popular with Denmark's population, according to a recent survey.

Prince Christian's Danish royal family has released a new portrait (pictured), marking a crucial moment for the Danish royal family. Christian, who recently celebrated his 18th birthday, is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Frederik and current monarch Margrethe. He made a "solemn promise" that the constitution would be followed. This formal pledge to uphold the country's constitution is a major step forward in his career as a king-in-waiting. It is a condition that the Prince be able to be named Governor in the event that both Her Majesty and His Royal Highness are disqualified from leading the administration,' a social media post from the royal house explained.' The family portrait depicts the family putting on a united front, amid rumors that Christian Prince Frederik spent an evening out in the Spanish capital with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova in October, without his wife of 19 years Princess Mary.

Prince Frederik of Denmark (pictured inset with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova), 55, grinned while guiding Prince Christian (left and right), 18, to his seat at the The Council Chamber in Copenhagen, Denmark. A video of the occasion from TV2 was posted on the Kongehuset Instagram account, and Queen Margrethe II's eldest son pulled the chair out for his mother. Princess Mary, the husband and son's, was not in attendance, but the family was later seen dancing in the car (pictured bottom right), all in good spirits.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Genoveva Casanova's photographs on a night out in Madrid without his wife Crown Princess Mary have emerged. In the Spanish capital last month, the heir to the throne and the Mexican socialite had a night out. The royal and reality TV stars are seen enjoying a stroll through the park last week before changing into a new set of clothes and heading out again for the evening.

James Litston takes on the Somerset Levels and walks across the marshes from the village of Westonzoyland with 'no one around.' The 'low-lying wetlands' are described as'very steeped in history and folklore.' The area is believed to have ties to King Arthur...