Orange (colour) in Portuguese, and "orange" in English. The House of Orange-Nassau was one of the most influential royal houses in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. It originated in 1163 the tiny Principality of Orange, a feudal state of north of Avignon in southern France. The Principality of Orange took its name not from the fruit, but from a Roman-Celtic settlement on the site which was founded in 36 or 35 BC and was named Arausio, after a Celtic water god; however, the name may have been slightly altered, and the town associated with the colour, because it was on
Jacobite line of succession to the English and Scottish thrones in 1714 succession crisis which ultimately led to an Act of Parliament to designate Anne's successor. The Act of Settlement, drawn up in 1701, settled the succession on Sophia of the Palatinate, Electress of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, barring any Roman Catholics or spouses of Roman Catholics from the succession. This was a deliberate attempt to disinherit Anne's nearest blood relation, the exiled Roman Catholic James Stuart (who would later be known as the 'Old Pretender'), her half-brother, from inheriting the throne. The Act changed the course of British history and had many political consequences, primarily leading to the