Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
The Jacobite Court was established at Saint-Germain-en-Laye at the beginning of 1689, following the successful invasion of England by William of Orange. At the time few people expected the Court to remain there for long, but after James II’s defeat in Ireland (1690), and the failure of his planned invasion of England (1692), it became clear that there was little hope of an immediate restoration. In the event the Stuarts were to remain at Saint-Germain-en-Laye for a quarter of a century. James II himself died there in 1701. His son James III stayed until 1712, when he was obliged to leave France by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). The Queen, Mary of Modena, continued to live at Saint-Germain, and presided over the Court, until her death there in May 1718.