by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Her Highness The Lady Anne was the fourth child and second daughter of James, Duke of York (the future King James II of England) and his first wife Anne Hyde. Anne was born at St. James’ Palace in London, England on February 6, 1665.

Anne had seven siblings, of whom only Anne and her elder sister Mary survived childhood:

• Charles, Duke of Cambridge (1660 – 1661), died of smallpox at seven months
• Queen Mary II of England (1662 – 1694), married Willem III, Prince of Orange, later King William III of England, died of smallpox
• James, Duke of Cambridge (1663 – 1667), died of the bubonic plague or smallpox at age 3
• Charles, Duke of Kendal (1666 – 1667), died in infancy
• Edgar, Duke of Cambridge (1667 – 1671), died at age 3
• Henrietta Stuart (born and died 1669), died in infancy
• Catherine Stuart (born and died 1671), died in infancy

Anne was christened into the Church of England on May 9, 1665, at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace in London, England. Her godparents were:

• Mary, her three-year-old elder sister
• Anne Scott, 1st Duchess of Buccleuch, Duchess of Monmouth (wife of King Charles II’s illegitimate son James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth)
• Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury

Anne’s mother and father converted to Roman Catholicism, but on the orders of King Charles II, Anne and her sister Mary were brought up in the Church of England. Anne’s mother died of breast cancer in 1671, when Anne was 6 years old. At that time, Anne and her elder sister Mary were declared “children of the state” and their education became the responsibility of their uncle King Charles II. The two sisters were moved away from their father’s Catholic influence and given their own household at Richmond Palace on the River Thames under the care of Sir Edward Villiers and his wife Frances. The Villiers daughters were educated with Mary and Anne, and the girls had lessons in religion, French, drawing, music, and dancing.

In 1673, Anne’s father James made a second marriage with the Catholic 15-year-old Maria Beatrice of Modena. Anne was only seven years younger than her stepmother and James told his daughters that he had provided them with a new playmate.

Anne had seven half-siblings via her father’s second marriage with Maria Beatrice of Modena, but only two survived childhood:

• Catherine Laura Stuart (1675 – 1676)
• Isabel Stuart (1676 – 1681)
• Charles, Duke of Cambridge (born and died 1677), died of smallpox
• Elizabeth Stuart (born and died 1678)
• Charlotte Maria Stuart (born and died 1682)
• James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales “the Old Pretender” (1688 – 1766), married Mary Sobieski, had issue
• Louisa Maria Teresa Stuart (1692 – 1712), died of smallpox

Around 1671, Anne first met Sarah Jennings who eventually became her great friend and very influential adviser. Sarah and Anne became closer friends when Sarah was appointed a maid of honor to Maria Beatrice of Modena, Anne’s stepmother. Sarah married John Churchill, the future 1st Duke of Marlborough. During Anne’s reign, John Churchill served Anne as a general in the War of the Spanish Succession. Anne had Blenheim Palace built for John Churchill in Oxfordshire as a reward from a grateful nation for the duke’s military victories against the French and Bavarians during the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. Sarah fell out of favor with Anne in 1711 and Abigail Masham, a cousin of Sarah, became Anne’s favorite and remained so until Anne’s death. Among the more famous descendants of the Marlboroughs are Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales.

In December of 1680, George, The Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the future King George I) made a three-month visit to his future kingdom of Great Britain and rumors were flying that he would become the husband of his second cousin Princess Anne, the future Queen Anne, whom he later succeeded. However, on July 28, 1683, at the Chapel Royal in St. James’ Palace, Anne married the Protestant Prince George of Denmark, son of King Frederik III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg and brother of King Christian V of Denmark. Even though the marriage was arranged, the marriage was happy and they were faithful to each other. The couple’s London residence was a set of buildings at Whitehall Palace called the Cockpit-in-Court. Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough became one of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting.

Anne became pregnant a few months after the wedding, but she gave birth to a stillborn daughter in May 1684. Anne’s obstetrical history is tragic. She had 17 pregnancies with only five children being born alive. Two died on the day of their birth, two died at less than two years old within six days of each from smallpox, and one died at age 11. Anne suffered from what was diagnosed as gout and had pain in her limbs, stomach, and head. Based on these symptoms and her obstetrical history, Anne may have had systemic lupus erythematosus which causes an increased rate of fetal death.

• Stillborn daughter (May 12, 1684)
• Mary (June 2, 1685 – February 8, 1687), died of smallpox
• Anne Sophia (May 12, 1686 – 2 February 2, 1687, died of smallpox
• Miscarriage (January 21, 1687)
• Stillborn son (October 22, 1687)
• Miscarriage (April 16, 1688)
• Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (July 24, 1689 – July 30, 1700
• Mary (born and died October 14, 1690)
• George (born and died April 17, 1692)
• Stillborn daughter (March 23, 1693)
• Miscarriage (January 21, 1694)
• Miscarriage of daughter (February 17 or 18, 1696)
• Miscarriage (September 20, 1696)
• Miscarriage (March 25, 1697)
• Miscarriage of twins (early December 1697)
• Stillborn son (September 15, 1698)
• Stillborn son (January 24, 1700)

In 1685, Anne’s uncle King Charles II died without any legitimate children despite having at least 14 illegitimate children. Anne’s father, who had converted to Roman Catholicism, succeeded his brother as King James II. Anne and her elder sister Mary, who had married their first cousin Willem III, Prince of Orange, were James’ only surviving children and were first and second in the line of succession followed by William who was third as the only child of King Charles I’s eldest surviving daughter Mary, Princess Royal. King James II was now set on restoring Catholicism to England. He issued a Declaration of Indulgence removing restrictions that had been imposed on those that did not conform to the Church of England. England might have tolerated King James II knowing that his heirs were the Protestant daughters of his first wife Anne Hyde, Mary and Anne. However, on June 10, 1688, James’ second wife Maria Beatrice of Modena, who had no surviving children, gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward. Immediately, false rumors swirled that the infant had been smuggled into the queen’s chambers in a warming pan.

On November 5, 1688, Willem III, Prince of Orange, the nephew and son-in-law of King James II, landed in England vowing to safeguard the Protestant interest. He marched to London, gathering many supporters. James panicked and sent his wife and infant son to France. He tried to flee to France about a month later but was captured. William had no desire to make his uncle a martyr, so he allowed him to escape. James was received in France by his cousin King Louis XIV, who offered him a palace and a pension.

Back in England, Parliament refused to depose James but declared that having fled to France, James had effectively abdicated the throne and that therefore the throne had become vacant. James’s elder daughter Mary was declared Queen Mary II and she was to rule jointly with her husband Willem, who would be King William III. This overthrow of King James II is known as the Glorious Revolution. James was determined to regain the throne and landed in Ireland with a French force in 1689. He was defeated by his nephew William at the Battle of the Boyne on July 1, 1690, and was forced to withdraw once again to France where he lived in exile for the rest of his life. William and Mary were crowned at Westminster Abbey on April 11, 1689.

On December 28, 1694, Anne’s sister Queen Mary II died of smallpox. She was just 32 years old. King William III continued to reign alone for the remainder of his life. As William and Mary had no children, Anne was now the heir presumptive to the throne and her son William was second in the line of succession.

On July 24, 1700, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester celebrated his eleventh birthday at a party held at Windsor Castle. Jenkin Lewis, his servant, reported, “He complained a little the next day, but we imputed that to the fatigues of a birthday so that he was much neglected.” In the evening, William complained of a sore throat and chills. Two days later, he was no better and had developed a fever and was delirious. The doctors suspected smallpox, but no rash appeared, so they used the usual treatments of the time, bleeding and blistering, which no doubt, made William’s condition worse. William died on the morning of July 30, 1700, at Windsor Castle, probably of pneumonia. His body was taken to the Palace of Westminster where it lay in state in his apartments. William was interred in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey during the evening of August 7, 1700. His uncle King William III wrote to the Duke of Marlborough that William’s death was “so great a loss to me as well as to all of England, that it pierces my heart.”

Anne and her husband George were devastated. This death and the failure of the Protestant Stuarts to produce heirs meant the end of the Protestant Stuart dynasty as the legitimate descendants of King Charles I were either childless or Roman Catholic. The Act of Settlement 1701 secured the Protestant succession to the throne after William’s sister-in-law and heir presumptive Princess Anne. The act excluded the former King James II (who died a few months after the act received royal assent) and the Roman Catholic children from his second marriage. It also excluded the descendants of King James II’s sister Henrietta, the youngest daughter of King Charles I. Parliament’s choice was limited to the Protestant descendants of Elizabeth Stuart, Electress Palatine, the only other child of King James I not to have died in childhood. The senior Protestant descendant was Elizabeth Stuarts’s youngest daughter Sophia, Electress of Hanover. The Act of Settlement put Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs in the line of succession after Anne.

On February 20, 1702, King William III went riding on his horse at Hampton Court Palace. The horse stumbled on a molehill and fell and broke his collarbone. The collarbone was set by a surgeon, but instead of resting, William insisted on returning to Kensington Palace that evening. A week later, it was discovered that the fracture was not mending well and William’s right hand and arm were puffy and did not look right. His condition continued to worsen and by March 3, William had a fever and had difficulty breathing. King William III died on March 8, 1702, and was succeeded by his sister-in-law and cousin Anne. Queen Anne’s coronation took place on St George’s Day, April 23, 1702. Despite being only 37 years old, Anne was so overweight and infirm that she had to be carried in a sedan chair to Westminster Abbey. At the coronation, Anne’s husband Prince George paid homage to her. He was the first husband of a reigning queen to do so and it was not to be repeated until Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh paid homage to his wife Queen Elizabeth II at her 1953 coronation.

During Queen Anne’s reign, England was engaged in the War of the Spanish Succession, in which England, Austria, and the Dutch Republic fought against France and Spain. On March 6, 1707, the Acts of Union were passed. England and Scotland were united into a single kingdom called Great Britain. Anne’s husband, Prince George died at age 55 on October 28, 1708, at Kensington Palace and was buried at Westminster Abbey. Anne deeply grieved for her husband and wrote to his nephew King Frederik IV of Denmark, “the loss of such a husband, who loved me so dearly and so devotedly, is too crushing for me to be able to bear it as I ought.”

Queen Anne suffered a stroke on July 30, 1714. She died at Kensington Palace on August 1, 1714, at the age of 49 after suffering another stroke. Her remains were buried at Westminster Abbey in a vault under the monument to George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle in the Henry VII Chapel. Charles II, William III, Anne’s sister Mary II, and Anne’s husband George of Denmark were also buried in this vault. Anne had become so obese that her coffin was much larger than the other coffins in the vault as can be seen in the drawing below. Electress Sophia of Hanover, the heir to the throne according to the Act of Settlement, had died on June 8, 1714, just six weeks before the death of Queen Anne, and so Sophia’s son became King George I and started the Hanover dynasty.

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Recommended Book: Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father’s Throne by Maureen Waller, 2002

House of Stuart Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Index
• House of Stuart Index
• Coronations after the Norman Conquest (1066 – present)
• First Cousins of Queen Mary II and Queen Anne
• History and Traditions: Stuart Weddings
• House of Stuart Burial Sites
• House of Stuart Christenings