Queen Anne

September 15, 2013
Somerset (The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV, 2004) delivers an exhaustive and easily readable history of a queen trying to emulate Elizabeth I with none of the Tudor forcefulness and too much of the Stuart feebleness. The much-maligned Queen Anne (1665-1714) was never expected to reign. Her father, James II, was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and succeeded by his daughter, the childless Mary, and her husband, William of Orange. Anne's 17 pregnancies before her accession produced only one child, who survived only to age 11. Her devotion to her friend and First Lady of the Bedchamber, Sarah Churchill, was a most unfortunate liaison. Sarah treated Anne as an uninformed fool, unable to form opinions of her own. However, Anne blossomed when she became queen, a situation that Sarah never accepted. Sarah's husband, the Duke of Marlborough, and Lord Treasurer Sidney Godolphin, were Anne's primary ministers; many thought they completely controlled her. Anne's correspondence shows just how malicious and even criminal Sarah was. Her dictatorial domination is evident in her demands, harangues and diatribes. Even Marlborough phrased his letters to the queen based on instructions from his wife and Godolphin. They viciously abused Anne's rejection of their politics while encouraging the future George I to invade England after they fell from favor. Today's reader will easily recognize the rancorous party politics, obstructionism and inability to enact laws that existed in that period. Anne's natural reserve and her instinct for discretion has led historians to believe that she was weak and dominated by women of stronger character. Somerset's impressive scholarship debunks that belief and shows Anne as a masterful, even authoritative, queen who survived the influence of her "friends."

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Starred review from November 1, 2013

An eager book-buying public consumes many books on the charismatic Queen Elizabeth I, last of the Tudors, but who cares about "Good Queen Anne" (1665-1714), the last of the Stuarts? Some may recall Anne's patronage of Sarah and John Churchill (first Duke and Duchess of Marlborough) and their fall from grace. Fewer may know of Anne's struggles to produce an heir. Through Anne's 17 pregnancies, leading to few live births, Somerset (The Affair of the Poisons) presents a fascinating glimpse into 18th-century medicine (for strong stomachs only). The one child to survive past infancy was the hydrocephalic Duke of Gloucester, by far the most appealing character in this long biography. His death at age 11 ended Anne's hope of continuing the Stuart dynasty. On her own death, the throne passed to distant cousins, the Hanoverian Georges. Somerset offers a persuasive portrait of Anne as a ruling monarch (rather than a tool of her ministers and her serving women), lacking the intellectual gifts and extroversion of Elizabeth I, but determined to steer the ship of state herself. The evil Sarah Churchill's powers ultimately paled next to those of her plodding but deeply serious queen. VERDICT British royal history buffs will want to read this thorough biography of a long underestimated monarch.--Stewart Desmond, New York

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