BBC latest dig at Rangers The Glorious Revolution, 1688 Myth: The revolution was glorious The Catholic James II ("dismal Jimmy", as Nell Gwynne called him) came to power in 1685, but lasted a mere three years before fleeing to France in what came to be called the "Glorious Revolution". James's flight and his replacement by the Protestant William of Orange was viewed as an example of pragmatic, bloodless reform, in contrast to the current and future convulsions elsewhere in Europe. Mural of William of Orange in Belfast William of Orange's legacy is still revered by many The truth is a little different. It was bloodless only because James capitulated. William's Dutchmen invaded illegally and with main force, from a land with which England had only recently been at war. He brought a huge fleet of 463 ships and some 40,000 men. Parliament had not requested such an invasion, the King clearly hadn't and the "invitation" from six peers and a bishop was constitutionally irrelevant. England was attacked by a foreign ruler to usurp a legitimate monarch. The invasion was clearly treasonable but, as the saying goes, "if treason prosper, none dare call it treason".