William III, Halfcrown 1697 First bust. Fine

History is often painted as a series of inevitable events, but every so often, a figure steps onto the stage who completely rewrites the script. William III—widely known as William of Orange—is exactly that kind of figure. He was a man defined by contradictions: a Dutch prince who became an English king, a frail asthmatic who led armies into the thick of battle, and an autocrat by nature who inadvertently fathered the modern constitutional monarchy. next...