Queen Anne

WINNER OF 2013 ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

With a personal life riven by passion, illness and intrigue, Queen Anne presided over some of the most momentous events in British history. Like Antonia Fraser’s life of Marie Antoinette or Amanda Foreman’s ‘The Duchess’, ‘Queen Anne’ is historical biography at its best.
In 1702, fourteen years after she helped oust her father from his throne and deprived her newborn half-brother of his birthright, Queen Anne inherited the crowns of England and Scotland.

Childless, despite seventeen pregnancies that had all either ended in failure or produced heartrendingly short-lived children, in some respects she was a pitiable figure. But against all expectation she proved Britain’s most successful Stuart ruler.

Her reign was marked by many triumphs, including union with Scotland and glorious victories in war against France. It was also marked by controversy: Anne’s close relationship with Sarah, the outspoken wife of the Duke of Marlborough, turned to rancor with Sarah’s startling claim of the Queen’s lesbian infatuation with another lady-in-waiting, Abigail Masham.

Traditionally depicted as a weak ruler dominated by female favourites and haunted by remorse at having deposed her father, Queen Anne emerges as a woman whose unshakeable commitment to duty enabled her to overcome private tragedy and painful disabilities, and set her kingdom on the path to greatness.

Winner of Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2013

“'The formidable Anne Somerset ….in this admirably objective study sets out to rescue Anne's unfortunate reputation from her critics….and restate the case for this shy and sickly ruler as one of our most unexpectedly effective monarchs….It has taken immense patience and skill ….to create a new and subtler image of the last of the Stuart monarchs. Anne Somerset has done a real service both to us and to her namesake.' Sunday Times 'Somerset …..goes a considerable way towards overturning ….the negative judgment attached to Anne, both during her lifetime and later….in this well-argued biography.' Daily Telegraph 'One of the most enjoyable biographies I've read in the past year, elegantly written and with an encyclopaedic grasp of the period. I loved every page of it….Somerset guides us expertly and effortlessly through the labyrinthine party politics of the reign….with flair and scholarship.' Literary Review 'This magisterial new biography paints a fascinating picture of an often-overlooked monarch….on the basis of this incisive and compelling portrait, none could argue that she did not keep the interests of her people close to her heart.' Country Life”

‘Proves no period of history is ever dull… A wonderfully pacy and absorbing read.’ John Harding, Mail on Sunday

‘One of the most enjoyable biographies I’ve read in the past year, elegantly written and with an encyclopaedic grasp of the period. I loved every page of it’ Literary Review

‘It has taken immense patience and skill ….to create a new and subtler image of the last of the Stuart monarchs. Anne Somerset has done a real service both to us and to her namesake.’ Sunday Times

“With a great deal of literary panache … Queen Anne emerges as intelligent and sympathetic despite the cruelty of her gynaecological history” Antonia Fraser, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year

‘This magisterial new biography paints a fascinating picture of an often-overlooked monarch….on the basis of this incisive and compelling portrait, none could argue that she did not keep the interests of her people close to her heart.’
Country Life

‘A scholarly account of a truly dreadful woman’ Jane Ridley

Anne Somerset was born in 1955 and read History at King's College, London. Her first book, ‘The Life and Times of William IV’, was published in 1980. This was followed in 1984 by the bestselling ‘Ladies-in-Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day’, an acclaimed biography of Elizabeth I in 1991, and ‘Unnatural Murder: Poison in the Court of James I: The Overbury Murder’ in 1998. Her most recent work is ‘The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV’.

Her personal life riven by passion, illness and intrigue, Queen Anne presided over some of the most momentous events in British history. Like Antonia Fraser's life of Marie Antoinette or Amanda Foreman's 'The Duchess', 'Queen Anne' is historical biography at its best. In 1702, fourteen years after she helped oust her father from his throne and deprived her newborn half-brother of his birthright, Queen Anne inherited the crowns of England and Scotland. Childless, despite seventeen pregnancies that had all either ended in failure or produced heartrendingly short-lived children, in some respects she was a pitiable figure. But against all expectation she proved Britain's most successful Stuart ruler. Her reign was marked by many triumphs, including union with Scotland and glorious victories in war against France. It was also marked by controversy: Anne's close relationship with Sarah, the outspoken wife of the Duke of Marlborough, turned to rancor with Sarah's startling claim of the Queen's lesbian infatuation with another lady-in-waiting, Abigail Masham. Traditionally depicted as a weak ruler dominated by female favourites and haunted by remorse at having deposed her father, Queen Anne emerges as a woman whose unshakeable commitment to duty enabled her to overcome private tragedy and painful disabilities, and set her kingdom on the path to greatness.

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