Anne, Queen of Great Britain

Anne was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702, and Queen of Great Britain and Ireland following the Acts of Union 1707 merging England and Scotland, until her death in 1714. She was the daughter of James, Duke of York, later James II, and was raised an Anglican; her sister Mary married William III of Orange in 1677, and Anne married Prince George of Denmark in 1683. After James was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 Mary and William became joint monarchs, and after Mary's death in 1694 and William's in 1702 Anne succeeded to the throne. During her reign the Whigs grew more powerful during the War of the Spanish Succession until Anne dismissed many of them from office in 1710, and her once-close friendship with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, turned sour over political differences. Despite 17 pregnancies Anne died without surviving issue, the last monarch of the House of Stuart, and under the Act of Settlement 1701 she was succeeded by her second cousin George I of Hanover.