Dimensions
159 x 240 x 52mm
The last of the Stuart monarchs and the first royal to rule over a united Great Britain, Anne was a sickly, stubborn woman with little education and even less political experience when she ascended to the throne in 1702. Although virtually invalided by a series of miscarriages and acute arthritis, by the time she became queen she had already shown herself both ruthless - in helping force her father off the throne - and emotionally vulnerable, victim of a melancholic streak that was to haunt her all her life.
These two seemingly contradictory aspects of her personality would continue to influence her 12-year rule, not least her fraught, ultimately poisonous relationship with her lady-in-waiting and closest friend, Sarah Marlborough. From doting on the beautiful, forceful Sarah to refusing to acknowledge her presence, Anne demonstrated an intensity of feeling and obstinacy that characterised her as a monarch and helped shape Britain into the Great Power it would remain for centuries to come.
In this fascinating and accessible new biography, Anne Somerset uses the framework of the two women's intense relationship to rescue Queen Anne from long-held perceptions of her as indecisive and easily manipulated. In the hands of this star biographer, Anne Stuart is revealed as a complex woman whose passions ran deep and caused considerable controversy, and whose often questionable actions - as a ruler and a woman - demand re-examination. From her indisputable victories to the treacherous betrayal of her allies during the War of Spanish Succession and the rumours of lesbian tendencies that dogged her reign, Queen Anne remains one of Britain's most enigmatic and intriguing rulers, long overdue for reinterpretation and certain to appeal to the public imagination.
