Princess Isabel of York

Isabel Stuart (28 August 1676 – 2 March 1681), also called Isobel and Isabella, was a daughter of the future King James II of England and his second wife, Mary of Modena. Isabel was born at St James's Palace in London. She was the second daughter of James and Mary, after her sister Catherine Laura who died eleven months before Isabel's birth. Isabel had two older half-sisters from her father's first marriage to Anne Hyde: Mary and Anne; both would become reigning Queens of England. Isabel's paternal grandparents were Charles I of England and his wife Henrietta Maria of France, her maternal grandparents were Alfonso IV d'Este and Laura Martinozzi. Life For the majority of her lifetime, Isabel was the royal couple's only child and thus fourth in line to the throne (behind her father, Mary and Anne). She was moved down a place upon the birth of her brother Charles Stuart, Duke of Cambridge; however, he died of smallpox after living only for a month, so Isabel was promoted back up to fourth in line. In 1678, Isabel was joined by another sister, Elizabeth, who was also short-lived. Her family had a portrait painted of her by Sir Peter Lely.