The danger was averted by placing distant relatives, the Protestant Hanoverians, in line to the throne with the Act of Settlement 1701. William's lack of children and the death in 1700 of his nephew Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, the son of his sister-in-law Anne, threatened the Protestant succession. In 1696 the Jacobites, a faction loyal to the deposed James, plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate William and restore James to the throne. During the early years of his reign, William was occupied abroad with the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), leaving Mary to govern Britain alone. William's reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him and his wife to take power. In 1688, he landed at the south-western English port of Brixham James was deposed shortly afterward. Supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, William invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. James's reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, who feared a revival of Catholicism.

In 1685, his Catholic uncle and father-in-law, James, became king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Many Protestants heralded William as a champion of their faith. In 1677, he married his cousin, Mary, the eldest daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York, the younger brother of Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Ī Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic French ruler Louis XIV in coalition with both Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. His father died a week before his birth, making William III the Prince of Orange from birth. William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, the daughter of Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He ruled Britain alongside his wife and cousin Queen Mary II, and popular histories usually refer to their reign as that of 'William and Mary'. His victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is commemorated by Unionists, who display orange colours in his honour. He is sometimes informally known as 'King Billy' in Ireland and Scotland.

As King of Scotland, he is known as William II. William III (William Henry Dutch: Willem Hendrik 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702.

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