The multiple identities of Mary II: queenship, culture and politics in the late 17th century

Mary II is arguably the least well-known of Britain's world-famous group of regnant queens-yet her situation is both interesting and unique, deserving of both greater academic research and public awareness. This project aims to explore Mary II's mutable and conflicted identity using documentary, visual and cultural evidence from her life, and through the study of key heritage sites connected with her, including Kensington and Hampton Court Palace (Historic Royal Palaces) and the Queen's House (Royal Museums Greenwich). The study of Mary's visual identity will include her extensive legacy in terms of painted portraits, reflecting her life's trajectory, which has never been assessed together or thoroughly evaluated (National Portrait Gallery). This study of Mary II will therefore bring together three heritage organisations under the REACH Consortium theme of 'Identities, Ideologies and Heritage Narratives'.
Part of Mary's uniqueness stems from being part of Britain's only joint monarchy-yet that has also meant that being forever linked to her husband, as 'William and Mary', her own identity has been subsumed in her partnership and it has been assumed that her husband, as the 'front man' of the pair, was the only one who was engaged in significant (political) activity. Mary's unique path to the throne, by effectively usurping her father's crown, is also worthy of greater investigation-while narratives tend to focus on the political aspects of the Glorious Revolution, further scrutiny of the personal, familial and dynastic impact of this transition is needed. This again is deeply connected to issues of identity and ideology in terms of the way that Mary constructed her image, and was presented, as a Protestant heroine, despatched as bride to bolster the northern European Protestant alliance, before returning home to save Britain from the rule of her father and the fledgling Catholic dynasty he was creating with Mary of Modena. It will also be vital to investigate Mary's dynastic and national identities in order to understand how she represented herself as a foreign consort during her time in the Low Countries, and as native born queen regnant on her return to Britain, in order to avoid being alienated as foreign or 'other' during either period. While her time abroad exposed her to cultural Continental influences which can be seen in her architectural projects at Kensington, Hampton Court and Greenwich, and in her collections, it was important that she constructed her identity which would be perceived as that of a thoroughly Stuart and British regnant queen.
This project will examine the construction of Mary's identity from her childhood onwards, looking at her early education and the expectation on her as a potential heiress. Her early years will also be explored with consideration of how her religious ideology was formed and how the impact of personal relationships, shaped her identity in the long term. By working with researchers at Het Loo, and the Royal Collection in The Netherlands the project will examine the formation of her identity as a foreign consort during her years in the Low Countries and assess the impact of Continental influences on her later cultural projects in Britain. The (re)construction and projection of her identity during her reign will be investigated using a wide range of material, from the output of the dynamic print culture of the period, to economic sources such as her privy purse accounts, to assessing her collections, her dress, and portraiture, as well as a consideration of her extensive architectural and garden projects at Kensington and Hampton Court, and the role she played in the shaping the royal palace site and gardens at Greenwich. By bringing together such a varied collection of sources, the project will be able to create a far clearer picture of Mary's life and reign, and her contribution to the new style monarchy of the late seventeenth century than has hitherto been achieved.