Royal Profile: Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland

     Anne was born on February 8, 1665 as the second living child of James Stuart, Duke of York and Anne Hyde during the reign of her uncle, Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland - whose lack of legitimate children resulted in James being first in line to the thrones of those countries.

     However, James was a Catholic, having secretly converted to Rome at around 1668. To head off trouble with the majority of his Protestant subjects, the King instructed that Anne and her older sister Mary be raised as Protestants.

     Two days after Anne's 20th birthday in 1685, Charles died and was succeeded by his Catholic brother as James VII of Scotland and James II of England and Ireland, but was eventually deposed by William of Orange (Mary's husband), who was invited to invade Britain and take over, which he did in December 1688. Anne abandoned her father and joined in what would become the Glorious Revolution, and the King fled to France. In the following year, the parliaments of England and Scotland declared that James had abdicated the throne, and William and Mary were declared joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

     During this period, relations between Anne and her sister and brother-in-law broke down as William and Mary disagreed with Anne over her finances, status and choice of acquaintances - including John Churchill and his wife, Sarah. Queen Mary died in 1694 and William ruled alone for the remainder of his reign, during which he reconciled with Anne. He died in 1702, and Anne succeeded as Queen on March 8th.

     Anne's reign witnessed the continued development of the two-party political system, with the Whigs and Tories vying for supremacy in Parliament and the favor of the Queen. She favored the Tories, who were closely associated with the established Church, as opposed to the Whigs, who were more geared towards religious toleration. 

     The War of the Spanish Succession also dominated this period, with John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough as Anne's leading general in Europe. His wife Sarah became Anne's Groom of the Stole, Mistress of the Robes, and Keeper of the Privy Purse. However their relationship turned sour over political differences, and as the war became increasingly unpopular. The Churchill's were removed from their place of power, and the Whig government was replaced by a Tory administration, which sued for peace.

     But the biggest moment of the Queen's reign was the full political union of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain on May 1, 1707. For over a century, the two countries shared a common monarch, but had separate parliaments and separate policies. Anne was a strong advocate of union between these two of her realms, despite opposition on both sides of the border, but it was political and economic reality which eventually brought the two countries together under a single monarch and parliament.

     Anne suffered medical problems throughout her life, and from her 30's onward, she became increasingly lame and corpulent. Although married to Prince George of Denmark since 1683 and going through 17 pregnancies, only one child survived infancy, and he died in 1700 aged eleven. 

     The result was that Anne died aged 49on August 1, 1714 as the last monarch of the House of Stuart - which had reigned since the time of Robert II of Scotland. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement, she was succeeded by her closest Protestant relative, Georg Ludwig of Hanover as George I of Great Britain and Ireland, who was a great-grandson of James VI & I.