Following the death of her sister Mary from smallpox in December of 1694, Princess Anne of England quietly waited. She should have become Queen in her own right on that day, but her brother-in-law William III continued as sole monarch until his own death in 1702. He was thrown when his horse stumbled on a molehill breaking his collar bone. Shock hit his system and tuberculosis set in. He was two weeks later. Anne’s patience was rewarded. Now crowned as queen, it was the moment she had worked for and waited all her life. 
Separated when she was very young from her parents and sister, she had only the affections of her nursery servants. She grew up in an atmosphere of controversy. She had witnessed the deaths of her mother, grandmother and aunt. She betrayed her Catholic father for her Protestant religion. She broke ties with her only sister. She suffered financial humiliation by her brother-in-law. Anne’s one great friendship with Sarah Churchill proved to be baneful, manipulative and ensnaring. She endured nearly two decades of 18 pregnancies and watched her only living child slowly die at the age of eleven clinging to the hope she was pregnant again only to realize it was false. An invalid by 37, her life was filled with mental anguish, physical pain and emotional turmoil. Having a great deal of self-restraint, she was described as "very hard" and "not apt to cry."
In 1683, Princess Anne married the Protestant Prince George of Denmark. An unpopular union viewed by the people, but a very good one for the two of them. She was seen as completely fulfilling gender expectations for women of the time -- an obedient and dutiful wife, who liked to play cards quietly and sew. George was characterized as a fat, lazy and drunk who had little aspirations submitted to the wishes of his wife. Charles II, the Merry Monarch, famous quip about George:
"I have tried Prince George sober, and I have tried him drunk; and, drunk or sober, there is nothing in him."
Never to be crowned king, Anne was devoted to him her entire married life and he to her. He was comfortable with the fact that she was the head of the household. They enjoyed quiet retreats together. And he stood by her during the wrenching times she lost her children.
Unlikely to rule as queen, she received a limited education similar to that of other aristocratic girls of the time: learning languages, music and sewing. Her knowledge of history was basic and she received no instruction in civil law or military matters. She was misunderstood. She was said to be weak from her gender, suffered from poor eyesight and mediocre intelligence. Her personality was shy and reticent and she often isolated herself. In reality, Queen Anne had great common sense, forethought and worked with her personal servants to seek information withheld from her by government ministries. Although short, Queen Anne’s reign would be pivotal. It was one of the most brilliant and critically important periods in British history.
On the morning of the first day of August, 1714, Queen Anne died. She was only 49. Her swollen body from a bacterial infection remained unburied for three weeks as preparations were made. Her physician said Anne's life was shortened by the "scene of contention among her servants. I believe sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than death was to her."
Queen Anne reigned over Great Britain for 12 years. It was a time of great watershed from the violence of the seventeenth century and into the stability and prosperity of the eighteenth century. A distinctively English style in furniture and decorative arts developed under the Queen marked by soft and simple curved lines.
Portraits of Queen Anne by Edmund Lilly (1703); Peter Lely (1667-68); Peter Lely (1678); at the time of her marriage in 1683; with her only surviving son Duke of Gloucester.