2021-02-06 Sat

Anne was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland between 8 March 1702 and 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death in 1714.

She wished to rule independently, but her intellectual limitations and chronic ill health caused her to rely heavily on her ministers, who directed England’s efforts against France and Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession. The bitter rivalries between Whigs and Tories that characterized her reign were intensified by uncertainty over the succession to her throne.

Anne was plagued by ill health throughout her life, and from her thirties, she grew increasingly ill and obese. Despite seventeen pregnancies she died without surviving issue and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. Under the Act of Settlement 1701, which excluded all Catholics, she was succeeded by her second cousin George I of the House of Hanover.

Depicted here is a Half-crown coin of Queen Anne, 1708. The inscription reads in Latin: ANNA DEI GRATIA (Anne by the Grace of God).

Image Source: Wikipedia.org