What is Invitation to William?
The '''''Invitation to William''''' was a letter sent by seven famous Englishmen. They were later named the '''Immortal Seven'''. They sent this letter to [[William III of England|William III, Prince of Orange]], received by him on 30 June 1688 ([[Julian calendar]], 10 July [[Gregorian calendar]]). In England a Catholic male [[Heir apparent|heir]] to the throne, [[James Francis Edward Stuart]], had been born. The letter asked William to force the ruling king, his father-in-law [[James II of England]] to make William's Protestant wife [[Mary II of England|Mary]], James's oldest daughter, the heir. This might possibly be done by saying that the newborn [[Prince of Wales]] was not really James' son. The letter told William that if he were to land in [[England]] with a small army, they would rise up and support him. The Invitation shortly told him about their complaints against [[James II of England|King James]]. They said that the King's son was not really the King's son and that the English people generally believed him to be false. They complained that William had sent a letter to James congratulating him on the birth of his son. It was carried to William in [[The Hague]] by [[Rear Admiral]] [[Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington|Arthur Herbert]] (the later Lord Torrington) disguised as a common sailor. It was read by a secret [[code (cryptography)|code]]. The invitation made William decide to carry out his existing plans to land with a large Dutch army. This ended in the [[Glorious Revolution]]. James was allowed to escape and was replaced by William and Mary as joint rulers. == The signatories == Those who signed the invitation were: *[[Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds|The Earl of Danby]] *[[Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury|The Earl of Shrewsbury]] *[[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire|The Earl of Devonshire]] *[[Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough|The Viscount Lumley]] *[[Bishop of London|The Bishop of London]] ([[Henry Compton (bishop)|Henry Compton]]) *[[Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orf