Queen Mary Dies of Smallpox

December 28, 1694

Mary II, the half of the joint monarchy whom most English subjects actually liked, died of smallpox at thirty-two. Her grieving husband William III continued to rule alone. Their marriage, dynastic at its beginning, had become affectionate; Whitehall mourned more sincerely than anyone expected, and the king, never popular, became lonelier and more guarded in the years that remained.