King William III StatuePetersfield has a
statue of
King William III (of Orange) by
Henry Cheere.
The king is depicted sitting astride his horse, and the statue is
raised up on an engraved plinth.
This is one of only four statues of
William in the
United Kingdom outside
Northern Ireland (the others being Brixham, Hull and Bristol) and, as such, attracts bands of marching
Orangemen in mid-July to commemorate William's victory at the
Battle of the Boyne.
William III (4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702)
was a sovereign
Prince of Orange of the
House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as
Stadtholder William III of Orange over
Holland,
Zeeland,
Utrecht,
Guelders, and
Overijssel of the
Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over
England and
Ireland.
By coincidence, his regnal number (III) was the same for both Orange and England. As King of
Scotland, he is known as William II.
He is informally known in
Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy".
In what became known as the "Glorious Revolution", on 5 November 1688
William invaded England in an action that ultimately deposed King
James II & VII and won him the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland.
In the
British Isles, William ruled jointly with his wife,
Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694. The period of their joint reign is often referred to as "
William and Mary".
A
Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France,
Louis XIV,
in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many
Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith.
Largely because
of that reputation, William was able to take the British crowns when
many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. William's
victory over James at the
Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is
commemorated by the
Orange Institution
in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland to this day. His reign marked
the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the
Stuarts to the more-Parliament-centred rule of the
House of Hanover.