1702 - 1714
Anne (1665-1714), Queen of Great Britain and Ireland
(1702-14), the last British sovereign of the House of Stuart.
Born in London on February 6, 1665, she was the second
daughter of King James II. Her mother was James's
first wife, Anne Hyde. In 1683 she was married to Prince George of Denmark.
Although her father converted to Roman Catholicism in 1672, Anne remained
Protestant and acquiesced in James's overthrow by the anti-Roman Catholic
Glorious Revolution of 1688, which brought her sister Mary and Mary's
husband, William of Orange, to the throne.
Becoming queen on William's death in 1702, Anne restored
to favour John Churchill, who had been disgraced by her predecessor, making
him duke of Marlborough and captain-general of the army. Marlborough won a
series of victories over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701-14, known in America as Queen Anne's War), and he and his wife, Sarah,
had great influence over the queen in the early years of her reign.
Devoted to the Church of England, Anne was inclined to
favour the pro-church Tory faction rather than its Whig opponents, but,
influenced by the Marlboroughs and Lord Treasurer Sidney Godolphin, earl of
Godolphin, she at first excluded the Tories from office. Later, however, her
friendship with the Marlboroughs cooled, and in 1710 she took advantage of
popular dissatisfaction with the Whigs to remove Godolphin; Marlborough was
dismissed the following year.
During Queen Anne's reign the kingdoms of England and
Scotland were united (1707). She died in London on August 1, 1714, and,
having no surviving children, was succeeded by her German cousin, George,
elector of Hannover, as King George I of Great
Britain.
Timeline
1703: John Wesley (1703 - 1791) born. Held religious
meetings on Blackheath prior to setting up the Methodist Church.
1705:
Greenwich Royal
Park open to public
1705:
Edmond Halley identified the comet later to be named after him.
1707: 22 October: Royal Navy 4 ships sank- 2,000 lives
lost - public outcry results. This led to the Search for
Longitude
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