Anne, Queen of Great Britain

Biography

Anne was born at St James's Palace on 6 February 1665, the second surviving daughter of James, Duke of York, later James II, and his first wife Anne Hyde. On the orders of her uncle Charles II she and her sister Mary were brought up as Protestants although their father was Catholic. In 1683 she married Prince George of Denmark, and the couple stayed devoted to each other until his death in 1708.

When her father was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, her sister and brother-in-law became joint monarchs as Mary II and William III. Anne soon fell out with Mary over money, rank and her friends, chief among them Sarah Churchill. She succeeded William on 8 March 1702.

Her reign was dominated by the War of the Spanish Succession and by rivalry between Tories and Whigs; she favoured moderate Tories, and in 1710 she dismissed many Whig ministers. Under the Acts of Union, which took effect on 1 May 1707, England and Scotland were joined as the Kingdom of Great Britain, and she became its first sovereign. Her friendship with Sarah Churchill collapsed over politics. Anne suffered poor health throughout her life and, despite seventeen pregnancies, left no surviving child; on her death on 1 August 1714 the crown passed under the Act of Settlement to George I of Hanover, and she was the last Stuart monarch.