On 8 February 1693, the royal charter establishing the College of William & Mary was issued by King William III and Queen Mary II of England. The charter established the first college in the Colony of Virginia and the second in what is now the United States, after Harvard in 1636. The document served as the college's constitution for nearly 90 years, establishing it as an extension of the British Imperial bureaucracy and Church of England hierarchy. The original document has been lost, but contemporary copies survive. The chartering is celebrated annually at the college on 8 February as Charter Day.
The charter was initially given to James Blair, the colony's commissary, who returned to Virginia and presented it to the Virginia General Assembly in September 1693.