According to reports in the UK press, Rachel Reeves, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, has resolved to replace the portraits of men that hang in the state room of her new official home, No.11 Downing Street, with portraits of, or painted by, women.
Apparently, the first to be carried out of the door by the removalists will be King James II. Looking at his portrait, it’s perhaps understandable why a 21st-century, left-wing, female cabinet minister wouldn’t want this particular King looking down his nose at her from the state room wall.
So, who was the soon-to-be-jettisoned King James? He’s probably one of Britain’s lesser-known monarchs, mainly because he reigned for only three years, from 1685 to 1688. He was deposed during the ‘Glorious Revolution’ – by this time, the…