Queen Anne 1665-1714

[QueenEna1887]

Does anyone have anytype of information on Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts? Does anyone know about her childhood? How she was educated? Who were her educators?  What subjects was she educated in? What residences she lived in during her teen years? Her relationship between her father, uncle,sister, and stepmother? Does anyone have paintings of her as a small child or infant and teenager?

[dmitri]

There are many wonderful biographies of her.

[palatine]

There are many wonderful biographies of her.

Dmitri, I'd appreciate it if you'd name a few of those "wonderful" biographies.  I've read many of her biographies and haven't found a good one yet.

QueenEna1887, you should read Maureen Waller’s Ungrateful Daughters and Alison Plowden’s Stuart Princesses.  For all their faults, they are as good a starting place as any if you want to learn about Anne.  You can find portraits of her here:

http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=queen+anne&LinkID=mp00111

[dmitri]

Check out ''The Life and Times of ..." series. The general editor was  Antonia Fraser, a very respected British historian. There is one on Queen Anne and most of the British Monarchs. The one on her father, James II has quite a bit of informantion on his marriage to Anne Hyde and her childhood of course and problems within the family after his deposition. The series is a very good one. It came out in around 1972 - George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Limited and Book Club Associates . Hope you can track this series down via a good library or second hand bookseller. Best of luck!

[Kimberly]

You are quite correct Dmitri, the whole series of these books were very good.

[bell_the_cat]

Yes, I agree, though I found that the format was rather strained for the longer reigns (e.g. Henry VIII, Elizabeth .....George III!), and worked better for the shorter ones like Anne and Mary Tudor. I was dipping in to the William and Mary one recently, and it was very good on their life together. However, William's life after Mary's death was polished off in one chapter! I like a lot of illustrations but I think this series went overboard in that respect. 

[Gabriella]

Hello, QueenEna1887,
there's a good book about Queen Anne and her sister Queen Mary II written by Maureen Waller, " Ungrateful Daughters - The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father's Crown". It was published in 2002. It's ISBN: 0-340-79462-3.
I can recommened that book. While reading I got to know a lot about Queen Mary II as well as Queen Anne I.

Furthermore Jean Plaidy wrote a very interesting novel, "William's Wife", which also deals with the two ladies and the subject how they became Queens of Great Britain. Reading Ms. Waller's book too, I must admit that Ms. Plaidy did a good research for her novel.
 
Gabriella

[palatine]

Check out ''The Life and Times of ..." series. The general editor was  Antonia Fraser, a very respected British historian.

It's nice that you think highly of Fraser.  After all, if we agreed about everything, we'd have nothing to talk about.

Antonia Fraser, Royal Charles, 1979, page 25:

“[Charles I] did attend [the Earl of Strafford’s trial in 1641], but in order to remain incognito – in theory, if not in practice – stationed himself in a box; he was accompanied at times by the Queen, his brother-in-law the Elector Palatine, and his daughter Mary.”

Frederick V, Elector Palatine, the "Winter King" of Bohemia, Charles’s brother-in-law, died in 1632.  See Patrick Morrah, Rupert of the Rhine, 1976, page 28 (Fraser listed Morrah’s book among her sources consulted at the end of her book). 

Royal Charles, page 224:

“Soon yachts were all the rage…Prince Rupert’s yacht Fanfan even took part in an engagement during the Dutch War.  This did not stop the Prince referring to the King’s passion as part of the general levity of the new royal set: ‘The King, with his characteristic frivolity, had a yacht moored opposite Whitehall in which he might fancy himself at sea.  The childish hobby was appropriately called The Folly, and aboard this yacht was one of the many lounging places of the court.'  But age was making the former swash-buckling commander cantankerous.”

Fraser cited Peter Heaton, Yachting, A History, 1955, as her source for the quote.  She would have done better to consult Morrah, who noted that Rupert liked ships and the sea and was often in Charles II’s company.  Better yet, she should have consulted Eliot Warburton’s Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, 1849, volume III, page 470.  Warburton (not Rupert and/or any of the Cavaliers) had this to say about Charles's love of yachting:

“Yachting then became a fashion: with characteristic frivolity, Charles even had a vessel moored opposite to Whitehall, in which he might fancy himself at sea.  This childish hobby was appropriately named The Folly, and formed one amongst the many lounging places of the court.” 
   
Royal Charles, page 434:

“The vast family of Elizabeth of Bohemia had proved itself as yet astonishingly infertile: the Elector Palatine was childless, while one sister had succeeded Madame as the next Duchesse d’Orleans, which put her within the unsuitable French orbit.  Prince Rupert had died a bachelor at the end of the previous year.”

Fraser’s book was awfully long; perhaps she decided to omit the existence of Edward’s three daughters and their children to conserve space.  If you don’t know who Edward was, see Morrah’s book.  Fraser did mention George of Hanover's existence (page 434) but omitted the existence of his siblings.  One of Morrah’s themes was that Rupert and his siblings lacked opportunities (including, for most of them, the opportunity to marry) because of their poverty and because many of them died young.

I chose to highlight the aforementioned mistakes because Fraser claimed that she’d read many biographies of Rupert in the glowing review she gave Charles Spencer’s ghastly new biography of same:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,,2109185,00.html

In the review, Fraser fouled up a statement by the Winter Queen (“he - the WQ was referring to Karl-Ludwig, not Rupert-  cannot too soon be a soldier…”).  Fraser also said that she’d once treasured a picture she'd torn out of Margaret Irwin’s novel The Stranger Prince.  What a pity that Fraser didn’t see fit to mention that that picture was a portrait of Edward that was misidentified as Rupert in Irwin’s era:
   
http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=25483

Back to the original topic: if anyone else has any "wonderful" biographies of Anne to recommend, please do so.

[Mari]

I found this list on a History Site some of these look really interesting!

Ashley, Maurice. The Stuarts in Love. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1964.
This book is intended to deal with the personal lives and loves of the members of the Stuart dynasty.  It begins in the first section by discussing love and marriages of each class of English society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It then goes on to discuss each of the Stuart monarchs, dedicating two chapters to each one. The two chapters dedicated to Queen Anne are entitled "The extravagant passions of Queen Anne." These chapters briefly discuss Anne's early life and love life. The main focus concern Anne's friendships, particularly with Sarah Churchill, and how these relationships intertwined with politics. These chapters go farther than Anne's personal life and talk extensively about her reign and the major events of that period. These chapters are brief biographies that go beyond Anne's personal life.  Finally, this author concludes that Anne was not someone bullied by those vying for her affection, but rather a monarch who had a firm policy and pursued it in the manner she saw fit.  This book provides a good list of footnotes at the end of each chapter.  Overall though, the information contained in it can be found in other sources.

Bucholz, Robert O. " 'Nothing but Ceremony': Queen Anne." Journal of British Studies. 30 (1991): 288-323.
This is an interesting article in which the author sets out to write about an aspect of Queen Anne's reign he says has been neglected; her use of royal ritual to unite Britain.  Bucholz states Anne uses royal ritual and ceremony in a couple of different ways. She uses ritual to make political statements and to demonstrate the monarchy was above the squabbling of partisan politics. He discusses Anne's use of parallels between herself and Queen Elizabeth and the use of the analogy of Anne being the mother to the people of England. He also discusses Anne's use of ceremony during special occasions to rally support for the monarchy.  Bucholz concludes Anne's use of royal ritual was ultimately a failure because of her inability to unite the various political factions. These politicians were important subjects who were not dependent on the monarchy for their status in society. Though Anne reached back in history to reestablish Bucholz says she inadvertently brought about a future in which the main role of the monarchy was ceremonial, to represent the state. The monarchy was then limited and not able to rally people as effectively. This is an interesting article on a unique topic which is extensively footnoted and has a good bibliography.

Clark, Sir George. The Later Stuarts 1660-1714. 2nd Ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
This book was written as part of a fourteen volume series of the history of England. This book covers English history from the time of the restoration until the death of Queen Anne. The book begins by discussing Anne's reign with the War of Spanish Succession followed by Whigs and Tories. Clark sees Anne as a weak and bullied monarch, sometimes not more than a figurehead. He sees are as appointing and dismissing ministers in accordance with her emotions rather than sound judgment.  The only area that she ruled significantly in , he says, is in her religious appointments where her influence was great.  He dedicates more time to events of social and political trends during her reign than to Anne herself. He does mention Queen Anne's Bounty, the money that she annually gave to the poor. Near the end of the book, he takes a topical approach and addresses economics, the criminal code, overseas colonies, arts and literature and other aspects of Anne's reign not found in other sources.  This book has an annotated bibliography organized by topic, charts of the Stuart family, many maps and an appendix listing the important government ministers. This book is an excellent source for events and topics of Queen Anne's reign not covered elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is little personal biographical information about Anne herself.

Curtis, Gila. The Life and Times of Queen Anne. London: Wiedenfeld and Nicolson Limited, 1972.
An easy read, this book is written for a non-scholarly general audience. It is packed with a large number of illustrations of people, places, and events prominent during Queen Anne's life. It has no footnotes and only a brief bibliography, although it does contain many excerpts from primary source material.The book is divided into eight sections, each covering a different time period of Anne's life. Although not as detailed as some of the more scholarly works, this is a complete biography covering all aspects and major events of Anne's life and reign.It is particularly good in showing Anne's relationship and eventual falling out with Sarah Churchill. Also, it competently explains  the political struggle of Whigs and Tories during Queen Anne's reign.

[palatine]

Thanks for the recommendations, Mari.  I’ve read the books by Maurice Ashley and Sir George Clark that you listed; they are useful introductions to the lives and times of the Stuarts but, unfortunately, they aren’t the scholarly biography of Anne that I’m looking for.  Gila Curtis’s book sounds like a good introduction to Anne’s life but, again, that’s not what I’m looking for.  Robert Bucholz’s book sounds interesting.

[Mari]

Sorry I just realized that only half the list went on! This is the rest of it that I thought I had posted in a second reply! Yes, its a range between beginner and some with good primary sources! As it states Trevelyan also wrote a three volume source that looks good. Gregg uses a lot of primary sources.

Gregg, Edward. Queen Anne. London: Routledge & Kegan, Paul, 1980.
R.O. Bucholz, Assistant Professor of History at Loyola University, in his article says that this book is the definitive biography of Queen Anne.  This is a well written and thorough biography with frequent quotations from primary source material which is extensively footnoted and documented. The author cites many items previously unavailable from the archives in Britain and overseas as well as his use of works of other contemporary scholars as the unique characteristics of his work. His book tries to refute the claims of Sarah Churchill and others who have followed her interpretation of Queen Anne. These interpretations often painted Anne as weak, indecisive, dominated by others and as a monarch who let policy be affected by petty personal squabbles.Gregg sees Queen Anne as more important and attempts to give a balanced portrayal of her public and private life. Gregg believes that Queen Anne was a strong, careful and calculating monarch, was driven by ambition and resolve, and who asserted her authority without trampling on parliamentary authority. He also portrays Anne pursuing a course of political moderation. She is not someone dominated by changes in the strengths of different political parties.  Rather, a monarch not controlled by either party who had ministers from both parties and changed them in order to pursue policies of which she approved.  This extensive work and its bold interpretation of Queen Anne make this book an extremely useful source.

Green, David. Queen Anne. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970.
In this work, the author presents a work more complex than most. He sees her not as a great monarch and not one who was weak and ineffective. He sees her as a courageous queen who did her best despite many personal and political obstacles that would have been difficult for any monarch. Even though obstacles proved too difficult for her, she always did her best to carry out her duties.  He also makes the point that Anne was a transitional monarch. She was not a powerful Divine Right monarch but one who was moving toward a constitutional monarchy in which Parliament had the power, although that form of government hadn't fully emerged.  This is a good source with frequent quoting from primary sources and contains an extensive bibliography. The author's appendix on the health of Queen Anne is a unique feature of this book.
Kishlansky, Mark. A Monarchy Transformed. Allen Lane: The Penguin Press, 1996.
This is the sixth volume in a nine volume Penguin History of Britain and covers the entire reign of the Stuart dynasty. As the title suggests, the author sees the Stuart dynasty as a time when the monarch and England itself were greatly changed.  The monarchy evolved into a constitutional monarchy from a more absolute one. The nation itself also became more unified and grew to include a large overseas empire. Many of these changes occurred during Queen Anne's reign. Mentioned sporadically elsewhere, the last chapter focuses on Anne and her reign. It focuses a lot on the politics of her reign.  Also included in the chapter is information relating to the War of Spanish Succession. This chapter is of some, but not great usefulness in studying Queen Anne. The book does include a section entitled 'For Further Reading,' which is organized by monarch and is helpful on finding other sources of information about Queen Anne.

Trevelyan, George Macauly. England Under the Stuarts. History of England, vol. V. London: Methuen Co., LTD., reprinted 1961.
This is a book by the author who wrote the ground-breaking and most important work on Queen Anne: the three volume work England Under Queen Anne. Trevelyan writes about the Stuart dynasty as his contribution to an eight volume history of England. The final chapter of the book is dedicated to the reign of Queen Anne. This chapter gives extensive treatment to the events of Anne's reign. The Queen herself is not the major focus although she is often mentioned and her friendship with Sarah Churchill and Abigal Masham are discussed.  The politics of the Whigs and Tories and the War of Spanish Succession are extensively discussed. Trevelyan also pays more attention than most authors to the class structure as it related to political party makeup. His use of marginal headings are useful guides to topics of particular paragraphs. Also, he makes extensive use of maps; a Trevelyan trademark.  Footnotes are located at the bottom of each page and are well done, as is the extensive bibliography.  This is an excellent user-friendly source for the events of Anne's reign.

[Ian (UK)]

Statue of Queen Anne outside St Pauls Cathedral, London.



NOTE-   The link by Palatine to the National Portrait Gallery is still up & running, see #2.

On a rainy summers day 2008 at the NPG, I had the portraits of Queen Anne, Henry VIII, & Elizabeth I all to myself. Here there is no comparison to the more famous National Gallery around the corner where it's always   .......crowded, crowded, crowded. 

[Ian (UK)]

Queen Anne again, bigger.

[Marc]

It is interesting that as a little girl Anne was sent to live with her grandmother Henrietta Maria...after she died in 1669,she lived with aunt Henriette Anna who died a year later in 1670 and after that she was returned to England where she lived with her mother who again died a year later in 1671...

[Ian (UK)]

QUEEN ANNE     AT QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, LONDON.


More royal statues of London .......Link by Secret London
http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Kings_%26_Queens_2.html