The last of the Stuarts, Anne succeeded to the throne upon the death of William III in 1702, and reigned until her own death in 1714.
☰ Open Family Tree (Generation 8)
Anne was born in 1665, second daughter of James II. Unlike her father she was brought up and remained a strong Protestant. In 1683 she married the Lutheran Prince George of Danmark, a man of little abilities (Charles II is said to have commented about him, "I havre tried him drunk and I have tried him sober, but there is nothing in him"). When her father "abdicated" and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought her sister and brother-in-law, Mary and William of Orange, to the throne of Britain, she naturally stood next in line to the throne.
She was by nature extremely shy, cautious, and lacking in confidence, trusting neither herself nor others. Her only companion and confidante seemed to have been lady in waiting, Duchess Sarah Marlborough. She was also afflcted with gout, and by the age of 37 (when she came to the throne) she had suffered twelve miscarriages. Of her five other children, four had died in infancy, and the last—a boy—died at age eleven. Her life—with a non-entity of a husband (he died in 1708, half way through her reign)—as queen, it is not difficult to imagine, must have been a great burden. Already in 1701 parliament had passed the Act of Settlement that debarred any Stuart in exile from the throne and settled the line of succession on the Protestant Sophia of Hanover (granddaughter of James I). This could not have added any joy to her reign knowing that she was the last of her dynasty as well as being only an 'interim' monarch with the sound of Sophia's footstep already down the hall.
Anne was personally devout and kind. Though, like most royal daughters of her time, she received little in terms of education, she worked hard to understand the issues faced by the government of her days, and despite her own health issues attended parliament to get herself acquainted with the affairs of state. More than any other British monarch, she loved her country and was appreciated for that. But she was a high Anglican, and with her strong support of the High Church party in the Anglican Church, and in cooperation with the Tories the Dissenters came under increasing intoleration. Thankfully, her short reign meant that her policy died with her, when the Lutheran-bred George I (Sophia had died seven weeks before Anne) succeeded her (George was entirely a Whig man).
Two significant accomplishments of her reign were the Union of Parliaments of 1707, in which Scotland joined England and Ireland to become Britain,and the victory of John Churchill, the Earl of Marlborough, at the Battle of Blenheim during the War of Spanish Sucession in 1704.
©ALBERITH
240420lch