6th February, 1665

Length of reign:

Queen Anne ruled for 12 years and 5 months, between March 1702 and August 1714.

Anne married Prince George, son of Frederik III, King of Denmark, at St. James's Palace in 1683. The couple were very unlucky with children. In her 25 years of marriage, Anne was pregnant 19 times. 14 of these ended in miscarriage or with the children being born stillborn. Only one child survived infancy. He died aged 11. Prince George died in 1708, and Anne did not remarry.

Queen Anne's reign is perhaps most associated with the War of the Spanish Succession and the Act of Union. 

The War of the Spanish Succession lasted for virtually the entire length of her reign and was fought over the question of who would hold the Spanish throne. The French King, Louis XIV, supported his grandson, Philip, while the Grand Alliance of Britain, Austria, Portugal, Denmark and the Netherlands sided with another candidate, Charles of Austria. Britain enjoyed great early successes, mostly through the brilliance of the Duke of Marlborough. Such success did much to bathe Anne's reign in glory and made her a very popular Queen.

The reign is known for its strong economy. There was a growth in tea and coffee houses. These often developed into centres for business - for example, the London Stock Exchange grew from a coffee house, while Lloyds of London (insurance) had similar origins. At the same time, trade was pouring more money into the British economy. The South Sea Company was formed in 1711, which traded with Spanish colonies in South America. In addition, trade increased with India and the East. This set Britain on her way to becoming a world power and, by the reign of Queen Victoria, centre of the largest empire since Roman times.

Although Anne was a popular queen, her personal life was full of sadness. Despite her 19 pregnancies, only one child survived infancy, and he died at the age of 11. Then in 1708, her beloved husband of 25 years died. She herself was not healthy; she was often in pain and agony and suffered from gout. She was also an extremely large woman, and as she grew more ill, had to be carried around in a chair.
  
There were also suggestions that her character was not very strong. She seemed to be bullied by her friends and harassed by politicians of the day. This was a time of political intrigue and Anne was often caught in the centre of rows about who should form a ministry and whom she should support. Anne's reign, like that of her predecessors, Mary II and William III, showed further decline in the power of monarchy in contrast to the growing power of Parliament.

The Act of Union was signed on 1 May 1707 and it formally united England and Scotland into 'Great Britain'. Opinions were divided over whether the Act of Union was a good thing. In the immediate aftermath, it gave both England and Scotland what they wanted to a degree. The English got security, the Scots economic advantages. The English were fighting a war against Spain and traditionally while the English fought abroad, the Scots invaded from the north, often with help from the Auld Alliance, which had been formed between the Scots and the French for centuries.  The French were currently holding the Stuart claimant to the throne, James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of King James II.  People in England were worried that if Anne died, the French might try to force this new King onto the country.

Since 1701, it had been agreed that if Anne died without leaving any children, the throne would pass to Sophia, widow of the Elector of Hanover. No-one was sure if the Scots would accept this decision. With the war against France and an unsettled succession, it was important for the English to be secure in their relations with Scotland. The Act of Union provided this.

For the Scots, Union gave them economic advantages. They were now able to benefit from English trade and profit. Many Scots argued, however, that Union was not without its disadvantages. There was to be a common flag and coinage, while they lost their own Parliament. Instead they sent representatives to the Westminster Parliament. As there were to be only 45 MPs and 16 lords, there were critics who said that English matters would always take precedence.

Anne was the last ruler to touch for scrofula, otherwise known as 'the evil'.  It was believed that monarchs had magical powers and that purely by their touch, they could cure people. This had happened for centuries, but it was in the reign of Anne that it came to an end.