Anne Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland until 1707. Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1707.

Anne (February 6, 1665 - August 1,1714), from 1702 to 1707 Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, and from 1707 Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, was the first Monarch of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and also separately Queen of Ireland. She reigned from March 8, 1702 to August 1, 1714. George Friederick Handel (1685-1759) wrote Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne.

Anne was the second daughter of King James II from his first wife Anne Hyde, daughter of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor of England. Anne Hyde had been Protestant when they married, although she later converted to Catholicism and, after her death, her husband as well. At the time of her birth in 1665, her parents were Duke and Duchess of York, the monarchy had only recently been restored, and there was still every prospect of King Charles II, Anne's uncle, producing a male heir. Her parents had several children, but only two daughters Mary (the future Mary II) and Anne herself survived infancy.

In 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark (another Protestant state), and the couple had 17 children, most of whom were still-born. None survived long enough to ascend to the throne, the longest-lived being William, Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1700 at the age of eleven.

Succession Crisis 1688-1714

When Anne's father, James II, took as his second wife the Catholic Mary of Modena, concern grew that they would produce a son and that James would attempt to restore Roman Catholicism as the prevalent faith within Britain. James was deposed in 1688, in favour of his elder daughter, Mary (who became Mary II), and her husband, William of Orange. However, they were childless, and the succession passed to Anne in 1702. Unfortunately, her surviving son, William, had died two years earlier, and she failed to produce another heir.

The lack of a direct and legitimate Protestant heir to the throne precipitated the Act of Settlement in 1701 which bypassed Anne's Catholic father (deposed since 1688) and her Catholic half-brother (James Francis Edward Stuart) in favor of a Protestant heir, namely Electress Sophia who was the 12th child and youngest daughter of James II's paternal aunt (Elizabeth Stuart) and a grandchild of James I. (Genealogically senior heirs, the issue of Sophia's brother - the restored Elector Palatine Karl I - by his second marriage, were bypassed. There is no sign this line was considered during the process of legislation, and the marriage may well have been considered bigamous since the Elector proclaimed his own marriage dissolved without court or church proceedings.) Other even more senior lines descended from Karl II's sister Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans, and from Charles II's own sister Henriette, Duchess of Orleans (the first wife of Elisabeth Charlotte's husband) were also bypassed. The last-mentioned line was the most senior one, and it is from "Minette" that the present Jacobite claimant is descended. Since all of these lines were considered either Catholic or illegitimate, the choice of heir presumptive thus fell upon Sophia who however pre-deceased her cousin.

Another change was the Act of Union (see below), which resulted partly from England's desire to keep the English and Scottish crowns united, and Scotland's near bankruptcy after the disastrous Darién scheme and famine due to prolonged bad weather.

Anne and the Churchills

Anne's reign is remembered in part for the influence of the Churchills. John Churchill, an outstanding military commander, was created Duke of Marlborough following his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. He owed his favour with the queen partly to her long-standing friendship with his wife, Sarah. When, in about 1711, the two women fell out, the Duke and Duchess both lost preferment, the Duke being dismissed as captain-general, being accused of embezzling public funds. Before this, Marlborough had obtained significant preferment in military command partly through his own genius and partly through the influence of his sister (a mistress of James II). As a successful commander and as a royal favourite, the Duke and Duchess had been granted the royal estate of Woodstock where they built Blenheim Palace between 1705 and 1725.

There were some significant changes to the system of government in Britain during Anne's reign. In 1707 the Act of Union between England and Scotland was passed, uniting the two countries (which had been reigned over by one monarch since 1603 but retained separate parliaments and governments) as Great Britain. Anne was thus the last monarch of England, and the last monarch of Scotland, titles which had existed for 900 years. She retained the separate title of Queen of Ireland.

Since Anne was preoccupied much of the time with her many pregnancies and poor health, the business of government increasingly passed into the hands of ministers who, while appointed by Anne, were more and more responsible to the House of Commons rather than to her personally. Although the title of Prime Minister did not come into general use until the subsequent reign of George I (Sir Robert Walpole is usually regarded as the first Prime Minister), her ministers, such as Robert Harley (Lord Oxford) and Henry St John (Lord Bolingbroke) effectively ran the country. Anne was the last British monarch to refuse her Assent to an Act of Parliament (a militia bill in 1707).

Queen Anne died in 1714 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. The Act of Settlement, which was passed in 1701, saw the succession of the throne pass to the line of the Electress Sophia of Hanover (one of Anne's father's cousins). However, since Sophia had died a few weeks before Anne, Sophia's eldest son succeeded to the throne as King George I. The present Queen is his heir of line and senior co-heir general.

The term, Queen Anne, when applied to a style of furniture or architecture, refers to this monarch.

From 1702 to 1712, Queen Anne’s War -- the second of the French and Indian Wars was fought mostly in New England.

External link

• A short profile of Anne alongside other influential women of her time (http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/womeninpower/Womeninpower1700.htm)