Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion

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Wonderful first half

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2017

Anne is an interesting topic. I've read a lot about Charles II but little about his niece. The first half was wonderful. I found her explanation of James II fascinating. Most history books just gloss over the so called 'Glorious Revolution' but somerset explains it well. Also of great interest to me was the beginning of the Tories and Whigs, not to mention the conflicts regarding religion. I think it was a fair portrait of the Queen herself. I am still stunned that she went through 17 pregnancies with no surviving children. The fact that she could function at all after those emotional and physical tramas is amazing. The reason for four stars is that the second half really bogged me down. There was so much about the political infighting that I think should have been edited down. On the other hand, I learned a lot in the first half and am quite glad I read it.

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Detailed Picture of a Real Queen

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2019

I admit I knew almost nothing about this time in English history so reading this was a learning experience. It was interesting to see the rise of the Whigs and Tories and to carry that through to the revolution. Also instructive to compare the partisan politics of the time to today. I also had no idea how England went from the Stuart's to the Germans.

I have to admit when I saw the movie The Favourite I was sure it has to be about a fictional queen and Lady in Waiting because I couldn't believe a Queen would let an underlying treat her the way she did in the movie. However, this book makes their relationship out about the same.

The book itself is written as a historical biography with lots of footnotes, quotes and sources. It is not written to mimic historical fiction or much of a story so if you don't enjoy the academic feel you probably won't like this. It is not a lyrical book but it is fairly easy to read. I would recommend to learn more about Anne a d the politics of the time.

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From the United States

Kate

Wonderful first half

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2017

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24 people found this helpful

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Very thorough history of a little known queen

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2019

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After watching "The Favourite", I was really curious about Queen Anne. My knowledge of her was quite limited, and not accurate. This book gives you the full, and much more truthful, picture. Sadly for Anne, her reputation (and the film) rests on the memoirs of someone who was selfish and resentful at the end - and who outlived her and thus had the last word. Anne seems to have been misunderstood by her advisors, all of them believing her to be more ignorant than she was. By and large, they were more interested in their own aggrandizement and power than in serving their queen. The Protestant/Catholic and English/Scottish divisions in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the rise of Whig/Tory party politics, provide an unsettling backdrop to her life and reign.

The book is very thorough, very well documented and footnoted, and beautifully written.

14 people found this helpful

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An Accurate Account

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2018

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A historical account of the reign of Queen Anne of England, and also the events leading up to and surrounding her reign. I found the book to be quite easy reading and very informative. It deals with the difficult relationship between Anne and the Sarah Churchill who became Lady Marlborough. This was certainly a love/hate relationship and involved Lord Marlborough, the head of the English army, as well. It is incredible that Queen Anne did not produce an heir in spite of 17 pregnancies. This book was written from historical letters and documents and I believe was accurate. It avoided being fanciful as are other stories of Queen Ann that I have read. Because it was a little boring in places, I rate it four stars, but I esteem it as a very good book.

17 people found this helpful

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So good and so wise a Queen

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2019

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“In view of her inexperience, lack of education, and current perceptions about the incapacity of women, the challenge that confronted her was certainly formidable.” – from QUEEN ANNE, the author’s judgement at Anne’s accession

“Sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than death was to her.” – from QUEEN ANNE, her physician’s opinion

“So good and so wise a Queen” – from QUEEN ANNE, the author’s final judgement

A casual aficionado of English and British history, I’d never paid much attention to the reign of Queen Anne (1702 – 1714). However, after having seen the 2018 film THE FAVOURITE, I felt it was time. So…

QUEEN ANNE: THE POLITICS OF PASSION is Anne Somerset’s lengthy narrative of the life and reign of the last Stewart monarch before the first of the Hanoverians, King George I.

After reading the first several chapters which chronicle Anne’s life during the rules of her father, King James II, and that of her sister, Queen Mary II, and the co-monarch, William III, I was prepared to believe that Anne was perhaps the most unprepared and pathetic creature ever to occupy the throne of England. At the chapter beginning her reign, it was “We’ll see.”

A reader of QUEEN ANNE cannot but be appalled at the horrific bad luck Anne had when it came to bearing children. She was pregnant some seventeen times by her devoted husband, Prince George of Denmark. One hydrocephalic child, Prince William, lived until age eleven. All other pregnancies ended in a miscarriage, stillbirth or post-partum infant death, perhaps evidence of the autoimmune disease, lupus erythematosus (LE), which the book states is the current consensus diagnosis of the Queen’s lifelong condition.

Also of particular interest is the evolution of England’s rivalry of the Whig and Tory parties beginning around 1678 that, during Anne’s reign, reached a level of animosity that makes the current Republican-Democrat strife in U.S. politics a garden party in comparison.

Somerset’s research for QUEEN ANNE was apparently exhaustive. Unfortunately for the reader, it approaches exhausting, especially the author’s documentation of the relationship between Anne and Sarah the Duchess of Marlborough, which went from devoted to stone cold over the years. The author quotes letters sent between the two and third-party accounts of their relationship ad nauseum; she goes on and on and on about it in multiple contexts. Ok, we get it; enough already! QUEEN ANNE could not have been but improved with some serious editing of that sub-topic.

At the end of the book, my opinion of Queen Anne had been elevated by Somerset’s obviously sympathetic narrative. Despite the enormous pressures of her own health, the War of the Spanish Succession, her husband’s and children’s deaths, the thorny Act of Union (between England and Scotland), the threat of a Jacobite uprising, and the constant warfare between the Tory and Whig political factions in Parliament and Ministry, Anne delivered the monarchy intact to her successor; she was an improbable but effective caretaker. Honor is due.

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Detailed Picture of a Real Queen

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2019

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Simone 08

Who was Queen Anne?

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2015

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Who was Queen Anne?

If you could answer this question off the top of your head, then "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din."

I was reading a biography of Daniel Defoe when it was mentioned that he was a spy for Queen Anne sent to Scotland prior to the melding of England and Scotland to create Great Britain. It was then that I asked myself that question. As a Canadian who had been subjected in grade school to British history, I scoured the depths of memory. The only Queen Anne I could recall was Anne Boleyn, and this was a century and a half after that poor lady had literally lost her head to the whim of an outrageously cruel king.

My next stop was to Wikipedia, where I read a short biography of Queen Anne. Then I proceeded directly to Amazon and purchased Anne Somerset's superb biography of this queen. (All in 15 minutes: don't you just adore the Internet?)

Here is what I learned. Anne reigned from 1702 until her death in 1714. She was sister-in-law to William of Orange (William III) and sister of the monarch's wife, Mary. During Anne's short reign, England and Scotland were united as Great Britain; Winston Churchill's great ancestor, The Duke of Marlborough, more or less won the battle of the Spanish Succession (it's complicated); Daniel Defoe and Jonathon Swift were active members of her team and Frederick Handel wrote the music to 2 of her birthday odes, for which she awarded him a pension of 200 pounds; Britain was triumphant in the Treaty of Utrecht, which brought a somewhat settlement after the War of Spanish Succession, and began Britain's reign of world domination; and Britain clung tenaciously to dominance of the lucrative slave trade.

Queen Anne married George, a prince of Denmark, who, unusually for those times (and perhaps even these) was a true blue husband who loved her devotedly. Anne suffered through 17 pregnancies and the only child who survived died before reaching his teens. She was ill much of the time with a combination of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus symptoms of the skin (at that time, they referred to her disease as "gout" but the symptoms were closer to what is now known as "dermatomyositis.) Many times, she could only attend functions in a sedan chair or hold court in her "closet" (her private quarters). She became dangerously obese and loved to eat and drink to excess.

In the New World (North America, (i.e., Canada and what became the United States) The Brits lost their first war in Quebec to oust the French from any North American control (they would be successful about 50 years later under General Wolf). And - there was a curious occurrence going on in Pennsylvania when one of its early governors dressed as a woman to attend balls and functions because only in this way, he said, could he fully represent the queen.

Anne was the final Stuart monarch. George 1 succeeded her, thus ushering in the House of Hanover.

That is what I learned about Queen Anne's reign. Oh - and one item more. The fighting of the Whigs and Tories in Parliament and all the back-biting and deadlocks reminded me so much of all that is going on between the U.S. Democrats and Republicans these days. How? Well, read the book and you'll find out.

16 people found this helpful

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Galla

Fascinating study of a Queen and politics

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2014

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Queen Anne is not one of the more famous monarchs of England but Somerset has done much to explain her role during a tumultuous period in history She lived through the Glorious Revolution, the highly expensive War of Spanish Succession, the unification of England and Scotland, and undoubtedly one of the nastiest periods of party politics. Anne was not particularly well educated and her shyness and lack of social skills added to her weaknesses as a monarch. However, she was hardworking, conscientious, and dedicated to safeguarding the rights of the monarchy in the governance of the kingdom. She unsuccessfully sought to build a government of moderate Whigs and Tories but the partisan politics was so vehement that this was impossible. Complicating the issue was Anne's relationship with Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, a key player in Whig politics. What began as a close friendship degenerated into an ugly scandal with most of the vituperation issuing from the mouth and pen of Sarah. In addition to her disappointments as Queen, Anne also suffered the lost of all of her children who were born alive as well as several miscarriages and stillbirths. The fact that she was the last Protestant Stuart meant that this personal tragedy had serious political ramifications as the Jacobites and the Hanoverians waited for her death.

Somerset has written a rich, detailed biography and political study. The number of important characters and the complicated political situation both in England and in Europe necessitate close attention on the part of the reader. This is not a book to breeze through but it is enjoyable and worthwhile.

14 people found this helpful

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S. Weinstein

Much-needed reassessment of a politician in the middle of fierce parties

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2015

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I don't normally write reviews, but I was so blown away by this biography I had to. Somerset has done a great service to restore the reputation of a monarch who, rather than being the superficial card-playing Mrs. Morley, was a very hands-on player in the age that established the presence of modern political parties in parliamentary and representative-government nations.

Anyone who despairs at the machinations of Republicans and Democrats can take some comfort in reading about the far more vicious tactics, scurrilous pamphlets and backstairs goings-on of the Whigs and Tories. Despite being more sympathetic to the "High Church" Tories, to her great credit, Anne's sole motivation in choosing governments, dismissing Parliaments and navigating the very (very!) strong personalities of the time was simply "not to be the slave of any party."

To that end, she somehow (mostly) managed to navigate the shoals of Whig and Tory. There's no question misogyny has played something of a role in the decline of Anne's reputation, but Somerset makes it clear that it's no coincidence that Anne's reign was coincident with Britain's emergence as the major power in Europe.

20 people found this helpful

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Who knew I'd find Queen Anne so fascinating?

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2012

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Fabulous, amazing, thorough, engaging biography of a woman I didn't really know much about. Until I read a review of QUEEN ANNE in the London Review of Books, I never would have thought of purchasing this (I had to hunt down a UK seller, because it's not available in the US), and investing the (many) hours it took to finish it.

Very glad I did, though. Anne Somerset takes us from James II's near-disastrous marriage to Anne Hyde (a commoner), the mother of Queen Mary and Queen Anne, to the Glorious Revolution, through the strained relationship between Mary and Anne, and then to Anne's own ascension to the throne.

There's so much detail that it is a little overwhelming (did I mention that it took me forever to finish?), but if you want to understand Whig/Tory politics, the crazy relationship Anne had with the Duchess of Marlborough, and the nuts and bolts of the British involvement in the War of Spanish Succession, this is the book.

I can't recommend the text of the book enough. My only complaint is the notes are extremely disappointing (this would be a 4.5 star review, if I could). I love good, gossipy, annotated endnotes in a history, to lead me on to new and interesting books. Here, there are citations, sure, but they're all abbreviations and they look like they're in code.

8 people found this helpful

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Margot Cristo

A Great Book That I Didn't Know I Was Even Interested In Until I Read It!

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2014

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I ordered this book because I didn't know very much about Queen Anne. Low and behold, it is a great book with lots of interesting details that are well documented and clearly presented. It is an easy read, yet very in depth. I am a history major at the University of Texas at Dallas, and I am learning to dig deeper into primary sources for answers about those who came before us. Anne Somerset is a great historian who digs very deep into primary sources and pulls out interesting details and facts that would other wise go unnoticed! She isn't just a passive observer. No indeed! Somerset gets in there and digs things out of raw material the way I hope to do someday. I guess you could say that she is the Dr. Zahi Hawass of the Stewarts of England. I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion." It isn't really a happy story, but learning the truth about our past illuminates us. This book is Illuminating.

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