bell, what I'm wondering is which descendant of Jane Grey's sisters was available to be granted the reversion of the English succession if Sophia and her descendants hadn't been available. I'm also wondering who would have inherited the crown of Scotland, since a Tudor descendant couldn't claim that throne.
Modena, James II was certainly brave under fire as a junior officer under Turenne and later at sea, but that doesn't mean he was a good or even competent military commander. The only military campaign that James was in charge of was his Irish campaign of 1689, where he made mistake after mistake, culminating in the Battle of the Boyne, where he disgraced himself. Louis XIV received reports from the French officers and the French ambassador about James's behavior in Ireland and never trusted James with French troops again. James was an able commander at sea, but in naval warfare James made decisions with a council of war made up of experienced officers. He was also guided by instructions from his older brother. Once James was on his own, he tended to dither and panic when faced with a crisis.
John Callow has written a 3 volume biography of James which you might want to track down. Callow does not think that James was having a nervous breakdown during 1688, although he was deeply depressed.
Prejudice against Catholics was a time-honored tradition in England during James's reign, thanks to the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot, Henrietta Maria's antics, the Irish rebellion, the Popish Plot, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. James was swimming against the tide with his ideas, but he might have been able to establish religious toleration in private life if he had just been patient enough to work with Parliament, if he had been willing to break with Louis XIV, and if he had respected the Test Act until he could get it repealed.
As for Sir Charles Sedley, he was indeed a rake, though I haven't read anything about him running naked down the street; that sounds like one of the Earl of Rochester's pranks. Sedley was a playwright and a courtier; Catherine was his only child, and he had hopes of making a good match for her. I believe I've read that her mother was an invalid, and Sedley was too much of a gentleman, believe it or not, to divorce her. Catherine was a very witty woman by all accounts, but she was naive when she first came to court and met James. She easily had her head turned by James and the largesse he could dispense, to her father's dismay.
