The article deals with the problem of assessing the role of personality of James II in the Glorious revolution of 1688-1689 in England. For contemporaries and whig historians James II became the embodiment of those reasons that pushed William of Orange to “save” them from the consequences of the actions of the papacy and tyrannical rule. But in recent decades, one can observe a revisionist turn - an attempt to look at the Glorious revolution without the influence of the mythology of the winning regime, whereby the aspirations of James in matters of Church and State begin to see differently. The author's aims in this examination are to determine how truly relevant is this changing vision of the role of James in the revolutionary events of 1688-1689 in the context of comparison with William of Orange. The article analyzes the personal participation and the attitude of the king to the major issues of his reign, such as the problem of toleration, parliamentary control, standing army. The article concludes that James II, apparently, was never able to realize all of his mistakes caused by his inherent idealism and lack of political realism. Another important factor that led to the defeat of James was well-organized informational campaign by the supporters of William of Orange to discredit the Stuart, which began during the revolution, and which lasted throughout the reign of William III. Therefore, James II was not the villain, how it was portrayed by supporters of the new regime, but he had no qualities of a true statesman that deservedly cost him his crown.