Title: Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion Author: Anne Somerset
Published: October 15, 2015
Genre(s): Nonfiction
Page Count: 621
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:She ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1702, at age thirty-seven, Britain’s last Stuart monarch, and five years later united two of her realms, England and Scotland, as a sovereign state, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. She had a history of personal misfortune, overcoming ill health (she suffered from crippling arthritis; by the time she became Queen she was a virtual invalid) and living through seventeen miscarriages, stillbirths, and premature births in seventeen years. By the end of her comparatively short twelve-year reign, Britain had emerged as a great power; the succession of outstanding victories won by her general, John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, had humbled France and laid the foundations for Britain’s future naval and colonial supremacy.
While the Queen’s military was performing dazzling exploits on the continent, her own attention—indeed her realm—rested on a more intimate conflict: the female friendship on which her happiness had for decades depended and which became for her a source of utter torment.
It’s only in the past few years that I’ve really delved into England’s Stuart monarchs and their history, but it’s still surprising to me that until a few months ago, when I read Susan Holloway Scott’s Duchess, I had absolutely no idea that Queen Anne Stuart was a person. Absolutely none. But as the author of this biography, Anne Somerset explains, Queen Anne’s reign has been more or less written off by many historians—and not without reason. All the same, it was during Anne’s reign that England became a true European power and gained credibility. Of course, the accolades for this rise in global esteem usually go to people besides Anne, so.
Queen Anne is definitely a really, really long book—even though about 100 pages of it at the end are footnotes and indexes. Regardless, it’s a pretty hefty read and certainly the sort of book that gives your arm muscles a good workout. What this means though, is that Somerset’s ability to go into detail is endless. (Perhaps, in my opinion, there was too much of it.) For though Anne’s reign was marked by an extreme elevation in England’s reputation abroad, at home, political squabbles between Whigs and Tories were frequent and fierce. At times, the lengthy exploration of the back and forth between opposing politicians was tedious for me, simply because 18th century debates in the House of Lords are strictly things I need to have in-depth knowledge about. Though, at the same time, I think it’s really commendable that Somseret took the time to provide so complete a picture of Anne’s government and rule.
This biography most interested me when it talked about Anne’s relationships with friends and family, her frequent illnesses and health issues, her dealings with the line of succession, and how she interacted with rulers outside of England. I don’t necessarily think those parts were better written; it was just that I was more into them. And Queen Anne does, absolutely, give a very good sense of who this monarch was as a person, as well as her shortcomings and failures. Somerset makes it clear that she’s a fan of Anne, but she also admits that Anne wasn’t well-educated, wasn’t attractive, wasn’t a good speaker, and allowed personal tiffs and prejudice to impede her effectiveness as a ruler. I feel like I’ve come away from this book with a pretty good of who Anne was as an individual, which is important to me—as well as ideas about other people, such as Anne’s husband, Prince George; Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; and William and Mary of Orange, Anne’s brother-in-law and sister.
Absolutely, Queen Anne displays that the author spent a lot of time researching before she wrote this biography. Practically every sentence contains a direct, primary quote of some kind—luckily there’s a lot of correspondence that’s still around to be read and looked at for historians. While at times I almost felt that the book went too much into depth, I actually think that might be a good thing. I’d rather have too much information than not enough; it’s easier to just skim the parts that don’t fascinate you than to try and research the gaps yourself.
All in all, I’m very satisfied with this book. Queen Anne provides a tremendous amount of insight into Anne Stuart’s character and actions, and I think that Somerset assembled the facts quite well, and in a coherent manner. I’m not going to say this is my favorite book ever, but I feel more knowledgeable for having read Queen Anne which was my primary goal.
