Coronation of Queen Anne, Last Stuart Monarch

Queen Anne was the last Stuart Monarch.

She was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who dramatically ruled the throne between April 1702 until her death aged 49, in August 1714.

Though her reign was short, it was one of the most significant, and perhaps tragic ones, with her time as ruler marking the union of England and Scotland, in 1707.

When Anne was born, no one would have possibly thought that they had witnessed the birth of a future Queen.

She was the daughter of Anne Hyde and James Duke of York – King Charles II’s brother.

Anne was an unlikely candidate to rule, seeing as she wasn’t the child of a ruling king, nor was she even the first-born of his brother.

From an early age, Anne suffered from many chronic and extremely painful illnesses.
Her illnesses, would sadly remain present throughout her entire life, making it a constantly painful and difficult experience to be alive for.

Before Anne would be eligible for the throne, she had three people ahead of her in line –

King Charles II, who had no children.
Then her father James.
Then her sister Mary.

Anne’s father James married again, to Mary of Modena – and was determined to create a new heir.
If he managed to have a son, that son would push back Anne and her sister’s possibility of getting to the throne.

Over ten years, Anne’s father would have ten children with Mary of Modena….. and would lose every single one of them.

When her sister got married to William III of Orange, it would seem like Mary and William would likely take the throne.

At the age of 18, in 1683, Anne was married to the attractive George of Denmark.
Though he was undeniably a hunk, he wasn’t the most thrilling person she had ever met.

But given the circumstances, the couple would grow to have a caring relationship.
Though they never did fall in love, they remained devoted to each other.

Within months of the marriage, Anne found herself pregnant with her first child.
However, pregnancies weren’t so much of a blessing in Anne’s life – they were a hardship instead.

That following May, Anne would suffer a miscarriage and was understandably devastated by the tragedy.

The newlyweds didn’t give up though, and would eventually succeed to have two daughters in two years.

In 1685, her uncle, King Charles II suffered an apoplectic fit, and died soon after.

Just like that, Anne’s father became the new King.
The people of England weren’t particularly happy about this change of events, though.

Anne’s father had converted to Catholicism, which made the Anglicans extremely uncomfortable.
The new King then began giving out some of the most crucial jobs within the institution, to other Catholics.

Later that year, Anne suffered another miscarriage, and just a few days later, her husband caught smallpox.

Because of how contagious the disease is, the couple’s two infant daughters, Mary and Anne Sophia, caught the infectious disease as well.

While George recovered, both of their daughters succumbed to the disease.

After the loss of their two infant daughters, both Anne and George were completely shattered.
For many months, their lavish palace was in silence, sadness, and pain, with the pair being seen sobbing together, uncontrollably at times.

Towards the end of that same year, Anne would have another stillborn, her third one so far.
And while we’d hope that this would be the last of Anne’s struggles with pregnancy, it wasn’t.

Tragically, Anne went on to suffer her fourth miscarriage.

Anne’s sister Mary, and William of Orange, then decided to invade England.
Since the people of England hated their Catholic King anyway, they wholeheartedly welcomed Mary and William, who started what became known as the “Glorious Revolution”

Then, just like that, King James was kicked off the throne, and William and Mary were now King and Queen.

In 1689 Anne managed to give birth to a son.
Anne began thinking that there was hope after all.

Sadly, she was wrong, tragedy was just around the corner.

Anne became pregnant again…. and gave birth to another son, who passed away just a couple of minutes after being born.

Anne was completely heartbroken, her health got so bad, she could barely stand on her own, leaving her dependent on her servants to push her around in a wheelchair.

With her health getting worse and worse, her appearance also started showing, and Anne didn’t seem to be able to care.

Her pain was so strong, that she barely had time to worry about her appearance, so it was common to see Anne dressed in dirty clothes, wearing tons of bandages, and having a spotted and ruddy face.

In July 1700, just a few months after she experienced her 12th stillbirth, her son was taken from her at the young age of 11.

For 20 years, she tried to have children, and the only son who had survived, was now dead.

From all of the losses that Anne had experienced to that date, this was probably the most painful one, and one that she had no idea how she would recover from.

In 1702, not too long after losing her son, Anne received news that she was now Queen Anne.
Her throne awaited her

To her joy, the people of England were delighted by her coronation.
With Anne on the throne, they were finally represented by an Anglican, English Monarch.

Anne was crowned on 23rd April 1702, but due to her illness, Queen Anne’s coronation wasn’t exactly the most inspiring coronation of all.

Her pain was so bad, she was helped by her servants, to get to the great church in a sedan chair.
But her physical disabilities were nothing, next to her willpower to rule.

No matter how many difficulties Queen Anne did have during her lifetime, her reign was definitely one that would be forever remembered.

She oversaw The Acts of Union, one of the most important moments in British history.
Both England and Scotland became one single country – Great Britain – under one parliament only.

Queen Anne would become the first Queen of a United Great Britain.

Around 1713, sadly, Anne’s health began deteriorating even further, to the point that it was apparent that the end was approaching.

Around Christmas, Anne fell ill with a horrible fever, and in July of the following year, she had a stroke and passed away.

In the end, Queen Anne did reign at a time of prosperity, and amongst all of the tragedy she endured.
Anne did end up being a great Queen to the people of Great Britain.

👑 Queen Anne
After Sir Godfrey Kneller