It was in the winter of 1688 that the Dutch prince engineered regime change in England. He drove King James II from his throne and got himself installed as king. It took military might, political skill, and good fortune.

It used to be said that Britain had not been invaded since William the Conqueror in 1066. Yet in 1688 William landed with 15,000 troops, prepared to do battle. On 5 November his fleet appeared at Brixham in Devon. Quickly his army seized Exeter. Up and down the country noblemen and gentlemen rose in arms and declared for William and a 'free parliament'.

During the coming weeks, as William's army moved closer to London, James's support ebbed away. The king was betrayed by the soldier whose career he had nurtured, John Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough. And like King Lear, James saw his two daughters desert him - Mary, the invader's wife, and her sister Anne.

James went to Salisbury Plain to marshal his army, but the desertions broke his nerve. It was the turning point. There would be no civil war, no Battle of Salisbury Plain.

James remembered what the English people had done to his father, Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649. On 11 December 1688, fearing for his life, he slipped out of London for the Kent coast where he was apprehended by fishermen. They mistook him for a fleeing Jesuit but when they realised who he was they tried to negotiate a reward. He was rescued and brought back to London, but within days fled again. As he left Dutch troops entered the city.

William's English revolution proved bloodless. But it would prove far from peaceful in Ireland and Scotland.