Муниципальное Бюджетное Образовательное Учреждение
Средняя образовательная школа № 85
с углублённым изучением отдельных предметов
Сормовского района города Нижнего Новгорода.
Научное общество учащихся
«Значение английских королев»
Выполнила:
Дорогова Виктория
Ученица 9 «Г» класса
Научный руководитель:
Семёнова О.Н.
Учитель английского языка
Н. Новгород
2015 г
Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………3
List of the most famous British Queens……………………………….....4
Queens in the Middle Ages………………………………………………16
How did British queens get power over kings despite a male-dominant society……………………………………………………………………19
Examples of the most powerful women in world`s history…………...…21
Queen of England today………………………………………...……….28
Elizabeth`s biography…………………………………………......28
Role of English Queen…………………………………………….29
Monarchy and the Parliament……………………………….29
Constitutional role ……………………..…………….....….29
Royal Prerogative…………………………………………..30
Queen`s working day……………………………………………...32
Conclusion……………………………………………………….…...….36
List of books and sites……………………………………...……...……39
Appendix……………………………………………………………..….40
Introduction
Queens in the Middle Ages had a very specific role in the monarchy as well as in society in general. They were sometimes rulers in their own right, but often one of their most important duties was to act as a regent when their king was unable to rule, whether the king was sick or too young to make intelligent decisions.
In my work I pay more attention on English Queens, because the monarchy in this country is still alive and now a great Queen rules there. The topic of my work is actual, because many people around the world try to explore life of the Queens, which went down in history. I suppose it will be useful to learn at least a little about the monarchy in Britain and to study the importance of the Queen. After all, some people might say, "Why do we need Queen? It is a relic of the past! Parliament and only Parliament has real power!" Well, I`ll help you to find out real answer to this question.
Studying my work the reader will realize that the English monarchy has deep roots and unforgettable history. Queens and Kings were the heroes of my favorite cartoons in my childhood, and then I met them in the movies, and have always wanted to know about who, where and how rules the country. Doing my work I have understood how much these women made for their country and history, the stereotype that Kings had higher position than Queens and had the greatest value was broken.
Well, the aims of my work are:
To prove that the value of English Queens was very high and sometimes it was more important than the value of Kings. Also it is really important to show you how much Queens did for their country. Some Queens saved whole countries when Kings were powerless.
To help the readers to learn useful facts about English Queens, their duties and life.
List of the most famous British Queens
A new Kingdom of Great Britain was formed on 1 May 1707 with the merger of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which had been in personal union under the House of Stuart since 24 March 1603. On 1 January 1801, Great Britain merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. So, there have been 12 monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. After most of Ireland left the union on 6 December 1922, its name was amended on 12 April 1927 to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
England and Great Britain have had a few reigning queens when the crown had no male heirs (Great Britain has had primogeniture through its history -- inheritance by the oldest son took precedence over any daughters). These women rulers include some of the best-known, longest-reigning and culturally most successful rulers in British history. Included: several women who claimed the crown, but whose claim was disputed.Well, look at the British Queen.
Matilda of Normandy (1102-1167)
Country of Origin / Nationality: English. She was called Maude, the Latin for this name was Matilda
Also Known by the Title: Empress Matilda and 'Lady of the English'
Lifetime: (1102 – September 10, 1167)
Never crowned as Queen of England
Born: Queen Matilda was born in 1102, her exact date of birth is unknown
Close family connections or relatives: She was the daughter of King Henry I of England. The cousin of Stephen de Blois ( King Stephen ) who seized the English throne
Date succeeded to the throne of England: Succeeded to the English throne following the death of her father, King Henry I but was never crowned as Queen of England
Married: First married the German Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor. Second husband was Geoffrey of Anjou
Children: Matilda had three sons by Geoffrey of Anjou. Her eldest son was Henry (later, King Henry II of England), her second son was Geoffrey, Count of Nantes and her youngest son was called William.
Date when Queen Matilda died: 10 September 1167
Death of Queen Matilda: Matilda died at Rouen in France. Buried in Rouen Cathedral; her epitaph reads: "Here lies the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry."
Character of Queen Matilda: Proud, haughty, disagreeable and ill-tempered
Accomplishments and Achievements or why Queen Matilda was famous: The only woman to assume the throne of England during the Medieval times of the Middle Ages
King Henry I of England had two legitimate children. William and Matilda. William was killed during the White Ship disaster. The impact of White Ship disaster was that it left Henry with no male heir. Henry then called upon all his chief noblemen to swear that they would take her for their queen in England, and their duchess in Normandy, after his own death. Young Maude , her Latin name was Matilda, was married to the German Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor. Her husband died in 1125 and Matilda returned to England. In 1127 she was forced to marry Geoffrey of Anjou. It was a tempestuous marriage, Matilda left her younger husband (he was 11 years her junior) but was reconciled and produced three sons. The eldest son was Henry, who was born on March 5, 1133 (later, King Henry II of England). Her second son was Geoffrey, Count of Nantes and her youngest son was called William.
Matilda's father, King Henry I of England, died in 1135. Matilda was ready to take her place as Queen of England. Neither English nor Normans had ever been ruled by a woman, and Queen Matilda, the Empress Maude, as she called herself, was a proud, disagreeable, ill-tempered woman, whom nobody liked.
The barons who had vowed to support the accession of Matilda to the throne reneged and Stephen, Matilda's cousin, seized the throne. Some of the barons and noblemen then turned on Stephen and invited Maude to come and be crowned in his stead. She came very willingly; and her uncle, King David of Scotland, set out with an army to fight for her; but all the English in the north came out to drive him back; and they beat him and his Scots at what they call the Battle of the Standard, because the English had a holy standard, which was kept in Durham Cathedral.
Stephen was taken prisoner at a battle at Lincoln, and there was nothing to prevent Maude ( Matilda) from being queen but her own bad temper. She went to Winchester, and was there proclaimed; but she would not speak kindly or gently to the people; and when her friends entreated her to reply more kindly, she flew into a passion, and it is even said that she gave a box on the ear to her uncle, the King of Scotland, who had come to help her, for reproving her for her harsh answers. When Stephen's wife came to beg her to set him free, promising that he should go away beyond the seas, and never interfere with her again, she would not listen, and drove her away. But she soon found how foolish she had been.
Stephen's friends would have been willing that he should give up trying to be king, but they could not leave him in prison for life; and so they went on fighting for him, while more and more of the English joined them, as they felt how bad and unkind a queen they had in the Empress. She was so proud and violent, that her husband would not come over to England to help her, but stayed to govern Normandy. She was soon in great distress, and had to flee from Winchester, riding through the midst of the enemy, and losing almost all her friends by the way as they were slain or made prisoners.
Her best helper of all, the Earl Robert of Gloucester, was taken while guarding her; and she could only get to his town of Gloucester by lying down in a coffin, with holes for air, and being thus carried through all the country, where she had made everyone hate her. Stephen's wife offered to set the Earl free, if the other side would release her husband; and this exchange was brought about. Robert then went to Normandy, to fetch Maude's little son Henry, who was ten years old, leaving her, as he thought, safe in Oxford Castle; but no sooner was he gone than Stephen brought his army, and besieged the Castle, that is, he brought his men round it, tried to climb up the walls, or beat them down with heavy beams, and hindered any food from being brought in.
Everything in the castle that could be eaten was gone; but Maude was determined not to fall into her enemy's hands. It was the depth of winter; the river below the walls was frozen over, and snow was on the ground. One night, Maude dressed herself and three of her knights all in white, and they were, one by one, let down by ropes from the walls. No one saw them in the snow. They crossed the river on the ice, walked a great part of the night, and at last came to Abingdon, where horses were waiting for them, and then they rode to Wallingford, where Maude met her little son. There was not much more fighting after this. Stephen kept all the eastern part of the kingdom, and Henry was brought up at Gloucester till his father sent for him, to take leave of him before going on a crusade. Geoffrey died during this crusade.
Matilda had no further desire to be queen or Empress, but lived a retired life in a convent, and was much more respected there than as queen. Matilda died at Rouen in France. Buried in Rouen Cathedral; her epitaph reads:
"Here lies the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry."
Lady Jane Grey (October 1537 - February 12, 1554)
She was an English noblewoman and de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553.
The great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, Jane was a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. In May 1553, she was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward's chief minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. When the 15-year-old king lay dying in June 1553, he nominated Jane as successor to the Crown in his will, thus subverting the claims of his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth under the Third Succession Act. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London when the Privy Council decided to change sides and proclaim Mary as queen on 19 July 1553. Jane was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death, although her life was initially spared. Wyatt's rebellion of January and February 1554 against Queen Mary I's plans to marry Philip of Spain led to the execution of both Jane and her husband.
Lady Jane Grey had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. A committed Protestant, she was posthumously regarded as not only a political victim but also a martyr.
The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII's daughters Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession, although the law regarded them as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry's will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary Tudor, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane's mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister Margaret Tudor, who had married into the Scottish royal house and nobility.
When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in the early summer of 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still the heiress presumptive to the throne. However, Edward, in a draft will composed earlier in 1553, had first restricted the succession to (non-existent) male descendants of Frances Brandon and her daughters, before he named his Protestant cousin Jane Grey as his successor on his deathbed, perhaps under the persuasion of Northumberland. Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on 21 June and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward also announced to have his "declaration" passed in parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared.
The King died on 6 July 1553. On 9 July Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. The next day, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation. Jane refused to name her husband Dudley as king by letters patent and deferred to Parliament. She offered to make him Duke of Clarence instead.
Northumberland faced a number of key tasks to consolidate his power after Edward's death. Most importantly, he had to isolate and, ideally, capture Lady Mary to prevent her from gathering support. As soon as Mary was sure of King Edward's demise, she left her residence at Hunsdon and set out to East Anglia, where she began to rally her supporters. Northumberland set out from London with troops on 14 July; in his absence the Privy Council switched their allegiance from Jane to Mary, and proclaimed her queen in London on 19 July among great jubilation of the populace. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower's Gentleman Gaoler's apartments, her husband in the Beauchamp Tower. The new queen entered London in a triumphal procession on 3 August, and the Duke of Northumberland was executed on 22 August 1553. In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful queen and denounced and revoked Jane's proclamation as that of a usurper.
Mary I (Mary Tudor)
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Her executions of Protestants caused her opponents to give her the sobriquet "Bloody Mary".
She was the only child of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon who survived to adulthood. Her younger half-brother Edward VI (son of Henry and Jane Seymour) succeeded their father in 1547. When Edward became mortally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because of religious differences. On his death their first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, was initially proclaimed queen. Mary assembled a force in East Anglia and successfully deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. In 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556.
As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism after the short-lived Protestant reign of her half-brother. During her five-year reign, she had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions. Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed after her death in 1558 by her younger half-sister and successor Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn.
In the month following her accession, Mary issued a proclamation that she would not compel any of her subjects to follow her religion, but by the end of September leading reforming churchmen, such as John Bradford, John Rogers, John Hooper, Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer were imprisoned. Mary's first Parliament, which assembled in early October 1553, declared the marriage of her parents valid, and abolished Edward's religious laws. Church doctrine was restored to the form it had taken in the 1539 Six Articles, which, for example, re-affirmed clerical celibacy. Married priests were deprived of their benefices.
Mary had always rejected the break with Rome instituted by her father and the establishment of Protestantism by Edward VI. She and her husband wanted England to reconcile with Rome. Philip persuaded Parliament to repeal the Protestant religious laws passed by Mary's father, thus returning the English church to Roman jurisdiction. Reaching an agreement took many months, and Mary and Pope Julius III had to make a major concession: the monastery lands confiscated under Henry were not returned to the church but remained in the hands of the new landowners, who were very influential. By the end of 1554, the pope had approved the deal, and the Heresy Acts were revived.
Under the Heresy Acts, numerous Protestants were executed in the Marian persecutions. Many rich Protestants, including John Foxe, chose exile, and around 800 left the country. The first executions occurred over a period of five days in early February 1555: John Rogers on 4 February, Laurence Saunders on 8 February, and Rowland Taylor and John Hooper on 9 February. The imprisoned Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was forced to watch Bishops Ridley and Latimer being burned at the stake. Cranmer recanted, repudiated Protestant theology, and rejoined the Catholic faith. Under the normal process of the law, he should have been absolved as a repentant. Mary, however, refused to reprieve him. On the day of his burning, he dramatically withdrew his recantation. All told 283 were executed, most by burning. The burnings proved so unpopular, that even Alfonso de Castro, one of Philip's own ecclesiastical staff, condemned them, and Philip's adviser, Simon Renard, warned him that such "cruel enforcement" could "cause a revolt". Mary persevered with the policy, which continued until her death and exacerbated anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish feeling among the English people. The victims of the persecutions became lauded as martyrs.
Reginald Pole, the son of Mary's executed governess, and once considered a suitor, arrived as papal legate in November 1554. He was ordained a priest and appointed Archbishop of Canterbury immediately after Cranmer's death in March 1556.
Furthering the Tudor conquest of Ireland, under Mary's reign English colonists were settled in the Irish Midlands to reduce the attacks on the Pale (the area around Dublin controlled by the English). Queen's and King's Counties (now Counties Laois and Offaly) were founded, and their plantation began. Their principal towns were respectively named Maryborough (now Portlaoise) and Philipstown (now Daingean).
In January 1556, Mary's father-in-law abdicated and Philip became King of Spain, with Mary as his consort. They were still apart; Philip was declared king in Brussels, but Mary stayed in England. Philip negotiated an unsteady truce with the French in February 1556. The following month, the French ambassador in England, Antoine de Noailles, was implicated in a plot against Mary when Sir Henry Dudley, a second cousin of the executed Duke of Northumberland, attempted to assemble an invasion force in France. The plot, known as the Dudley conspiracy, was betrayed, and the conspirators in England were rounded up. Dudley remained in exile in France, and Noailles prudently left Britain.
Philip returned to England from March to July 1557 to persuade Mary to support Spain in a renewed war against France. Mary was in favour of declaring war, but her councillors opposed it because French trade would be jeopardised, it contravened the marriage treaty, and a bad economic legacy from Edward VI's reign and a series of poor harvests meant England lacked supplies and finances. War was only declared in June 1557 after Reginald Pole's nephew, Thomas Stafford, invaded England and seized Scarborough Castle with French help in a failed attempt to depose Mary. As a result of the war, relations between England and the Papacy became strained, since Pope Paul IV was allied with Henry II of France. In January 1558, French forces took Calais, England's sole remaining possession on the European mainland. Although the territory was financially burdensome, it was an ideological loss that damaged Mary's prestige. According to Holinshed's Chronicles, Mary later lamented, "When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' lying in my heart".
Elizabeth I (September 7, 1533 - March 24, 1603)
Elizabeth I was born in the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, England. She was the daughter of Henry VIII of England and Anne Boleyn, but she wasn’t a princess. She had lost her right as a princess, because her mother was killed by the king.
When Elizabeth was four, she met Katherine Champernowne. Katherine was her teacher. Elizabeth and she had close a relationsip, and they were good friends for life. Elizabeth was intelligent. She loved learning. She could speak and read six languages, her native English, as well as French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Latin. And she had music talent from her father. Her character was attractive.
Elizabeth became the Queen of England in 1558 after her half-sister, Mary I of England, died. She was crowned on January 15, 1559 at Westminster Abbey. She was crowned by Owen Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle. Her father Henry VIII made a new law, the Act of Supremacy, in 1534. Supremacy means top and power. This law decided that the king was top in England. She followed him. At first she did the Reformation, and brought Catholicism and Protestantism together. She accepted Catholicism though she was a Protestant.
Elizabeth has been called the Virgin Queen, because she never married. It is not clear why Elizabeth never married. Many reasons are thought. One is that she was hurt by her mother’s death. There were also rumours that she would only marry one man, Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester, with whom she was deeply in love. Earl means a man with a high social rank in England. But she was opposed by surrounding people. So Elizabeth decided that if she could not have him, she would not marry at all. The most likely reason may be that she didn’t want to cause problems by marriage. For example, politics would become uneasy and England would be opposed by other countries, because she had a lot of money. So She refused even the marriage to Felipe II of Spain. But she had many boyfriends.
Elizabeth I caught smallpox in 1562. This scared Parliament, because they did not know who would be the King or Queen after her. They asked Elizabeth I to name an heir, but she did not.
Elizabeth had a cousin, Mary Stuart. They were rivals. Mary married the French prince, after she became the French queen. And she was the queen of Scots and it also had the right that was able to become the queen in England. For Elizabeth, Mary was a very dangerous person. In 1568, Mary ran away to England, asked for help from Elizabeth. Elizabeth worried very much. Because they were rivals, and their religion was also different. Because Mary was a strong believer in Catholicism, Elizabeth feared religious confusion in England. After all, she treated Mary as guest and prisoner. She did not want to kill Mary, but surrounding people opposed her. In 1578, Elizabeth put Mary to death after a long hesitation.
In 1572 Elizabeth I made an alliance with France. She made negotiations with them to marry. In 1580, Pope Gregory XIII sent an army into Ireland to help with their rebellion, but this failed.
After Mary’s death, the trouble with Spain became serious. Elizabeth had helped the Netherlands fight against Spain. The Netherlands fought for independence. An attempted Spanish invasion in 1588 (see Spanish Armada) failed, and this made Queen Elizabeth I very popular.
Elizabeth I fell ill in February 1603, suffering from physical weakness and insomnia. Insomnia means the condition of not being able to sleep. She had no child, so she appointed James VI to be the next king of England. James VI was Mary’s son. Elizabeth I died at age 69, on March 24, 1603. She had kept the independence of England that was a weak state at that time. She has been called "Good queen Bess".
Mary II
Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband (who was also her first cousin), William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of her Roman Catholic father, James II and VII. William became sole ruler upon her death in 1694. Popular histories usually refer to their joint reign as that of "William and Mary".
Mary wielded less power than William when he was in England, ceding most of her authority to him, though he heavily relied on her. She did, however, act alone when William was engaged in military campaigns abroad, proving herself to be a powerful, firm, and effective ruler.
In December 1689, Parliament passed one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, the Bill of Rights. This measure —which restated and confirmed many provisions of the earlier Declaration of Right—established restrictions on the royal prerogative; it declared, amongst other things, that the Sovereign could not suspend laws passed by Parliament, levy taxes without parliamentary consent, infringe the right to petition, raise a standing army during peacetime without parliamentary consent, deny the right to bear arms to Protestant subjects, unduly interfere with Parliamentary elections, punish members of either House of Parliament for anything said during debates, require excessive bail, or inflict cruel or unusual punishments. The Bill of Rights also confirmed the succession to the Throne. Following the death of either William III or Mary II, the other was to continue to reign. Next in the line of succession would be any children of the couple, to be followed by Mary's sister Anne and her children. Last in the line of succession stood any children William III might have had from any subsequent marriage.
From 1690 onwards, William was often absent from England on campaign, each year generally from the spring until the autumn. In 1690, he fought Jacobites in Ireland, and whilst her husband was away, Mary administered the government of the realm with the advice of a nine-member Cabinet Council. She was not keen to assume power and felt "deprived of all that was dear to me in the person of my husband, left among those that were perfect strangers to me: my sister of a humour so reserved that I could have little comfort from her." Anne had quarrelled with William and Mary over money, and the relationship between the two sisters had soured.William had crushed the Irish Jacobites by 1692, but he continued with campaigns abroad in order to wage war against France in the Netherlands. When her husband was away, Mary acted on her own if his advice was not available; whilst he was in England, Mary completely refrained from interfering in political matters, as had been agreed in the Declaration and Bill of Rights, and as she preferred. She proved a firm ruler, ordering the arrest of her own uncle, Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, for plotting to restore James II to the throne. In January 1692, the influential John Churchill, 1st Earl of Marlborough, was dismissed on similar charges; the dismissal somewhat diminished her popularity and further harmed her relationship with her sister Anne (who was strongly influenced by Churchill's wife, Sarah). Anne appeared at court with Sarah, obviously supporting the disgraced Churchill, which led to Mary angrily demanding that Anne dismiss Sarah and vacate her lodgings. Mary fell ill with a fever in April, and missed Sunday church service for the first time in 12 years. She also failed to visit Anne, who was suffering a difficult labour. After Mary's recovery and the death of Anne's baby soon after it was born, Mary did visit her sister, but chose the opportunity to berate Anne for her friendship with Sarah. The sisters never saw each other again. Marlborough was arrested and imprisoned, but then released after his accuser was revealed to be an impostor. Mary recorded in her journal that the breach between the sisters was a punishment from God for the "irregularity" of the Revolution. She was extremely devout, and attended prayers at least twice a day. Many of her proclamations focus on combating licentiousness, insobriety and vice. She often participated in the affairs of the Church—all matters of ecclesiastical patronage passed through her hands. On the death of Archbishop of Canterbury John Tillotson in December 1694, Mary was keen to appoint Bishop of Worcester Edward Stillingfleet to the vacancy, but William overruled her and the post went to Bishop of Lincoln Thomas Tenison.
Mary was tall (5 foot 11 inches; 180 cm) and apparently fit; she would regularly walk between her palaces at Whitehall and Kensington. In late 1694, however, she contracted smallpox. She sent away anyone who had not previously had the disease, to prevent the spread of infection. Anne, who was once again pregnant, sent Mary a letter saying she would run any risk to see her sister again, but the offer was declined by Mary's groom of the stole, the Countess of Derby. Mary died at Kensington Palace shortly after midnight on the morning of 28 December. William, who had grown increasingly to rely on Mary, was devastated by her death, and told Burnet that "from being the happiest" he was "now going to be the miserablest creature on earth".While the Jacobites considered her death divine retribution for breaking the fifth commandment ("honour thy father"), she was widely mourned in Britain. During a cold winter, in which the Thames froze, her embalmed body lay in state in Banqueting House, Whitehall. On 5 March, she was buried at Westminster Abbey. Her funeral service was the first of any royal attended by all the members of both Houses of Parliament. For the ceremony, composer Henry Purcell wrote.
Anne (February 6, 1665 - August 1, 1714)
Anne's reign is remembered in part for the influence of the Churchills. John Churchill, an outstanding military commander, was created Duke of Marlborough following his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. He owed his favour with the queen partly to her long-standing friendship with his wife, Sarah. When, in about 1711, the two women fell out, the Duke and Duchess both lost preferment.
There were some significant changes to the system of government in Britain during Anne's reign. In 1707 the Act of Union between England and Scotland was passed, uniting the two countries (which had been reigned over by one monarch since 1603 but retained separate parliaments and governments) into the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Anne was thus the last monarch of England, and the last monarch of Scotland, titles which had existed for 900 years. She retained the separate title of Queen of Ireland.
Since Anne was preoccupied much of the time with her many pregnancies and poor health, the business of government increasingly passed into the hands of ministers who, while appointed by Anne, were more and more responsible to the House of Commons rather than to her personally. Although the title of Prime Minister did not come into general use until the subsequent reign (Sir Robert Walpole is usually regarded as the first Prime Minister), her ministers, such as Robert Harley (Lord Oxford) and Henry St. John (Lord Bolingbroke) effectively ran the country. Anne was the last British monarch to refuse her assent to an Act of Parliament (a militia bill in 1707).
Queen Anne died in 1714 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. The Act of Settlement, which was passed in 1701, saw the succession of the throne pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover. However, she died a few weeks before Anne. Sophia's eldest son succeeded to the throne as King George I of Great Britain.